seeketh to be confirmed by wonders now is himselfe to be wondred at in refusing to belieue that which all the world or the visible Catholike Church through the world belieueth which being well considered maketh little for you In that very place I say you could not choose but read these other words directly against you That now also Myracles are wrought in his Name eyther by his Sacraments or by the prayers and memories of his Saints togeather with the relation of many Myracles done in his owne tyme and of those in particuler wrought by the Reliques of S. Stephen which though not necessary after the World had once belieued as S. Austen there disputeth yet God in his mercy hath euer shewed them in all Ages as well to confound the obstinate that would not belieue the visible vniuersall Church as also to confirme those in their Fayth that already belieued In this place therefore you haue plainely falsified the sense of the Author eyther very fraudulently or very ignorantly choose you whether Section VI. Merits of VVorkes defended according to the Doctrine of the Fathers and Syr Humphry answered IN the next place against the Merit of Workes you obiect many places of the Fathers but none to the purpose You know full well that the Catholikes distinguish betweene works that goe before Faith workes that follow Workes going before Faith and proceeding only from the light of Nature or from the knowledge of the law of Moyses called therefore by S. Paul Rom. 3. The workes of the Law your Aduersaries doe all hold neyther to saue nor to be needfull to saluatio according whereunto S. Paule also saith That a Man is iustified by Faith without the workes of the Law But that workes following a liuely Faith formed with Charity and proceeding from it doe iustifie and are needfull to saluation your Aduersary proueth not only by expresse Scripture Iames cap. 2. Yee see then how that of workes a man is iustified and not of Faith only But also by the lyke Testimonies of all the holy Fathers noting and condemning the contrary opinion of the Protestants as hereticall in Symon Magus in the Gnostickes and in Eunomius as hath beene shewed And further he alleadgeth S. Aug. de fide oper cap. 14. testifiyng of the Apostles themselues that because this opinion of Faith only sprung vp in those dayes by peruerting the words of S. Paules Epistle before related the Epistles of S. Peter S. Iohn S. Iames and S. Iude were principally written vt vehementer astruant vehemently to vrge and contest that Fayth without workes doth profit nothing Agaynst all which manifest proofes you bring only some Authorityes of the Fathers shewing that our owne workes and righteousnes as Basil hom de Humil. or workes of the Law going before Fayth as S. Chrysos with S. Paul Hom. 7. in 3. ad Rom. and before Sinne pardoned as S. Ambrose and forgiuen as Theodoret comment 2. S. Bernard in Cant. Ser. 22. doe not iustifie but only Fayth without them which is nothing to the purpose because therein your Aduersary agreeth with you But you bring not a word to proue that workes following Faith doe not iustify nor are needfull to Saluation which opinion of yours your Aduersary hath shewed to haue beene often tymes condemned by the Apostles themselues by the Auncient Fathers in other Heretikes that haue gone before you Section VII Free-will defended and Syr Humphry answered IN the Controuersy of Free-will you seeme first to suppose your Aduersaries belieue that Man hath Free-will to performe supernaturall actes and workes of Pietie without Grace and then you proceed to dispute against them How can you imagine they are so absurd as to thinke by the power of Nature alone to doe that which they thēseues confesse to be aboue the power of Nature wherin there appeareth not only a great deale of passion in you which hanges lyke to a Cloud betweene the Eye of your minde and the light of truth but also as it seemeth great want of conscience For you know they hold that without grace it is impossible eyther to belieue or to do any other acte which may auayle or so much as dispose to Saluation This also you know to be the Doctrine of Bellarmine euery where in that whole Booke out of which you seeme to cite his words in a contrary sense and the words that immediatly follow in the very place you cite do plainely shew that against your Cōscience you falsify his meaning His words are these A Man before all grace hath Free-will not only to naturall and morall workes but also to workes of piety and supernaturall as you faythfully cite them but then it followeth Thus S. Augustine teacheth l. de Spiritu litera cap. 33. where he sayth That Free-will is a naturall and middle power which may be inclined to fayth and infidelity Thus Bellarmine whereby it is manifest his meaning to be that by Grace Free-will is not made or giuen vnto vs but that we haue the power thereof by Nature which afterward by Grace is inclyned and strengthned to doe those things which by the force of Nature without Grace we are not able so much as to will or to thinke much lesse to performe or perfect according whereunto in the same place he citeth also S. August de Praedest Sanctorum cap. 5. teaching that the Posse or power to haue Fayth and Charity is in man by Nature And in the same Booke cap. 11. he alleageth S. Augustine againe Epist 49. quaest 2. to the same purpose saying Free-will is not taken away because it is holpen by Grace but because it is holpen therefore it is not taken away If it be giuen by Nature and not taken away by Grace most certaine it is that still we haue it In this sense therefore your Aduersaries not only affirming that we haue Freewill by Nature but also teaching that it is so excited and strengthned by Grace as we cannot so much as thinke much lesse accomplish or performe any supernaturall acte without it they would easily graunt with S. Basil con de Hum. that we owe all euen that we liue to the Grace and gift of God but that you falsely translate it They graunt with S. Bernard de Gratia lib. Arbit That to will Good is a gift of Grace And with S. Augustine That it is God who maketh that we worke by adding to our will most efficacious strength That vnlesse he make vs willing and then worke with vs we shall neuer bring to passe any good worke And againe with S. Augustine de correp grat cap. 1. That though we haue Free-will to doe good yet none can be free in will and acte to do it that is to say perfectly or in actu secundo as the Scholmen speake vnlesse he be freed by the grace of God And againe That all is to be giuen to God not the first part vnto our selues the rest vnto God as the Pelagians
which being discouered were better found then Mynes of gold For vnlesse by some such meanes the Professors of your Ghospels may be brought to light your Church cannot long continue aboue ground but the former Question alone will suffice to coniure it downe againe into her auncient darkenes 2. What can be more vnworthy thē whē Priests Iesuites other Religious men execute the cōmādemēt cōmissiō of our Sauiour in carrying his Ghospel to the ends of the Earth as their Auncestors haue done in all Ages before them thereby prouing themselues their true Successors whome our B. Sauiour according to his promise Matt. 28. hath euer assisted and will alwaies accōpany Teaching and baptizing all Nations Omnibus diebus vsque ad consūmationem saeculi all dayes or euery day vnto the end of the world that your wiued Ministers in the meane tyme fatned with their benefices should only execute their owne malice in rayling vpon those laborious men and deprauing their Christian endeauours thereby shewing themselues to be that peruerse and bastard generatiō which insteed of cōuerting Infidells doth labour only to subuert belieuers insteed of planting the faith of Christ only indeauor to extirpate that Faith which they found to be already planted insteed of sowing the first corne only scatter cockle and darnell vpon that corne which was first sowed by others Rather set forth whole fleets of Ministers with their numerous families both for the East and for the West to bring those miserable Nations vnto the liberty and light of the Ghospell that haue layne so long captiue vnder the foule bondage and execrable Tiranny of the Prince of darknes Then it would be quikly tryed whether in those parts the diuells would submit themselues and fly before them or Whether like the strōger party Luc. 11.18 as hitherto in Virginia they haue shewed thēselues they would be able to keepe in peace the soules and vessells which they haue there soe long possessed vntill there come others stronger thē your Ministers that may be able to bind them 3. What can be more impious then whereas your Aduersaries like true Christiās confirme their doctrine in all Ages by those signes myraculous operations which were promised to follow the true belieuers Marc. 16.17 you on the other side should haue nothing to answere but only like Iewes and Pagans to laugh at them and at the holy Fathers themselues that were so simple as eyther to testify or to belieue them Rather ioyne your harts and your hands togeather that once in your tyme you may see a Generall Councell from all Protestant Prouinces meete togeather where out of so many Religions sprūg vp amongst you hauing chosen one by Lot to be generally professed beseech him who heareth all those that with a true Fayth doe call vpon him to confirme that chosen doctrine by some ostension in the Sunne or in the Moone or with some such notorious signe from Heauen as might no lesse exceed the former Myracles of the Papistes then the wondrous workes of Moyses confounded the magicall practises of the Egiptian Sages 4. And lastly what can be more voyde of shame and conscience then to clayme those Fathers of the first 500. yeares for yours that haue so impartially censured so many seuerall points of your Doctrine in the Heretikes of their tymes for the which I refer me to the fourth Sectiō of this Treatise as he that considereth them may iustly esteeme the body of your Religion to be almost nothing els but only a confarcination or bundle of old Heresies condemned by them Rather ioyne all in prayer that if your Cause be true as Almighty God vouchsafed in his owne person to iustify Iob against his friends so that our Sauiour would be pleased with a voyce from Heauen to iustify you agaynst the Fathers But ouer Shooes ouer Head and Eares sayth the Prouerbe according whereunto if being once entred into a bad cause it be resolued that still you must needes goe forward ceasing to falsify the words and to peruert the meaning of those holy Fathers least God in his iustice double your punishment as you double your iniquity hold your selues to the Scripture alone and to your owne interpretation of Scripture with M. Luther and M. Caluin and those learned Protestants of your owne Nation for so many yeares togeather not fearing to reiect the Fathers that were but men and directly refuting their errors for in so doing though you should want verity yet God might be pleased at the length to haue mercy vpon you for your sincerity O Mercifull God the Author of all truth If you be in the truth why should you defend it by fraud and falshood And how can it stand with his good will and pleasure that against so many powerfull Arguments and euident demonstrations to the contrary you should any longer thus contentiously hold it And obstinately so continue to professe it Certainly those 4. Considerations before remembred and reported more at large in the 4. first Sections of this Treatise do make it so euidēt vnto me that theirs not yours is the only true visible vniuersall Church ordayned and founded by Christ and his Apostles to teach the world that I wonder in my hart how any learned Protestant can be so blinde as not to see it or so voyd of honesty as not to confesse it Neyther if I were now a Protestant should any thing with-hold me from ioyning my selfe vnto them vnlesse it were only in honor of that Religion wherein I was bred to expect a little Whether the foresayd Catalogue of the Names of your Professors in all Ages and especially in the Ages before Luther might be found and produced The Question is now very happily set on foot I hope it wil be soundly followed and it were to be wished that no other Controuersy might be imbraced before this which is but matter of fact and the key of all the rest be fully cleared If Satisfactiō may be giuen in this poynt you may the better hope to be satisfied in the rest But if not so much as one man can be produced in 500. yeares before Luther that held not some maine points of Popery against you or some other grosse errors condemned by you if when Luther first began not one Protestant can be named that did not first fall from the Religion wherein he was bred or which he had first receaued then certainly it is not to be marueiled if thousands and thousands ere it be long doe renounce abandone with prayer for those to come after thē whom they shall leaue behind them that vpstart Fayth which was new when Luther began and none at all before Luther ALmighty God inspire the hart of his Majesty whom it importeth noe lesse then our selues that whereas the Catholike Recusants were neuer as yet accused of heresy according to forme of Ecclesiasticall iustice much lesse sommoned and called to make their answere or iuridically condēned that their Enemies formerly cēsured by Generall Coūcells according to the Aunciēt Law and receaued custome of the Church haue notwithstanding beene hitherto admitted not only as accusers but also as witnesses and iudges against them whereby the people of the Land being constrained to heare the one party and restrained from hearing the other haue been morally compelled to loue the one and hate the other to magnify the one and detest the other his Maiesty would be pleased to grāt vnto all his louing subiects for the saluation of their poore Soules committed to his charge that now at the lēgth they might be allowed both their eares to heare both sides indifferently to weigh and ponder both causes and well to cōsider of both Religions Left vnder the plausible name of spirituall liberty they be cunningly held in miserable captiuity being flattered with the shew of light they be insnared in dubble darkenes being deluded with presumption of knowlege they be bound and buried in most dredfull ignorance A request soe fauorable both in the sight of God and Man and so agreable to the principles of Protestant Religion as I thinke it can be vngratefull to none who doe wish vnfainedly that only falshood may be suppressed and the truth maintained For the which all those that sincerely desire to serue God vprightly shall be infinitely obliged to pray for his Maiesty not only as for their Gratious King but also as for their deliuerer from the thraldome of conscience wherein he found them and for the Author of their chiefest liberty wherin he should place thē FINIS
vpon paine of damnation to belieue a thing so incredible as that Christ being Crucified was risen againe in his owne flesh and ascended into Heauen if many other Myracles which the Apostles wrought in confirmation therof had not made it euidently credible as S. Austen disputeth in his booke de Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 7. and in the former Epist. 49. quaest 6. albeit he well obserued that this kind of proofe was euer lowdly and extremely laught at by the wicked Pagans yet most true it is which there he also affirmeth that we should not belieue Christ to be risen againe frō the Dead if the Fayth of Christians did feare in this point of Myracles the laughter of Pagans Wherefore to answere those places of the Fathers which you obiect not only agaynst so many of their owne Testimonies alleaged by your Aduersary but also against Scripture and against Christian beliefe it selfe grounded vpon Myracles as hath beene noted you must further vnderstand that the world hauing beene once perswaded by myraculous operations and workes of wōder to belieue the Doctrine of the Apostles with this firme promise that it should alwayes remaine with them and their Successors the visible Pastors of the Catholike Church vniuersally spread ouer all the world it ought not to belieue any other Doctrine or any other Myracles pretended to be done in opposition to that Doctrine which by continuall Tradition hath beene receaued frō them For as there can be no after-word of God contrary to that which was first preached soe there can be no latter Myracles contrary to the testimony of those by which the world first belieued but rather as S. Paul saith If an Angell from Heauen should preach otherwise then we haue receaued we should hold him accursed This made Tertullian in the Booke you cite de Praesc cap. 44. to protest against all Myracles supposed to be done against the Tradition of the Church whereof S. Augustine in his Booke de vnit Eccles obiected by you giueth the reason yet more plainly shewing that the Catholike amplitude or vniuersality of the Church by conuersions of Nations in all Ages doth more euidently proue it to be the true Church of Christ then any other worke which is done therein for it is more manifest to sense and human reason that the cleare Prophesies of the true Church in holy Scripture are fullfilled and accomplished only in the Catholike Church which accordingly in all Ages doth visibly spread it selfe ouer all the world then it can possibly appeare that any worke of admiration is truly a Myracle surpassing the force of Nature or power of the Diuell whereof it followeth that the true Church is more manifestly knowne by the accomplishment of those promises then by the wondrous effects of any Myracles and that Myracles doe not soe well and cleerly proue any Church to be Catholike as the Church being visibly Catholike doth manifest those Myracles to be true which are approued by it Whereof it followeth againe that all Myracles which are done against it or agaynst the vnity thereof are as firmely and constantly to be reiected Which is it that he also teacheth lib. 13. cont Faust. cap. 5. and Tract 13. in Ioan. and lib. 22. de Ciuitat Dei cap. 8. obiected by you And heere by the way I beseech you to note how much Saint Ansten esteemeth the former Argument of the conuersions of Nations in all Ages according to the promises therof in holy Scripture which he maketh such an euident marke and such an infallible proofe of the true Church that he preferreth it before Myracles And for the same cause lib. 22. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 8. he spareth not to say That he who seeketh to be confirmed by Wonders now is himselfe to be wondred at in refusing to belieue that which all the world or the visible Church through the world belieueth Which your selfe also hauing obserued you may wōder at your self both in refusing to belieue what you know the visible Catholike Church for a thousand yeares through the world belieued and wherin I also wonder my selfe at your not obseruing that S. Augustine doth wonder at you in that very place wherein you suppose he agreed with you as by and by I shall make it appeare Adde in the meane tyme to that which hath beene sayd that the Myracles whereunto the holy Fathers alleadged by you forbid vs to giue credit as vnto Arguments not sufficient to proue the Truth of Religiō were eyther Myracles in apparence only and such wherewith Heretikes might easily be deceaued or so deceaue as S. Augustine speaketh in the former place vpon Ioan not such as might reasonably induce any prudēt man to belieue thē As Dreames and Visions and exauditions of Prayers like vnto those of the Donatists against whome wrote Saint Augustine lib. de Vnit. Eccl. cap. 16. Or such as were Testimonies of the Iustice and mercy of God in generall and not of Doctrine in particuler as were those whereof S. Hierome speaketh Or finally such as being wrought by wicked men exceeded not the power of the Diuell as S. Augustine obserueth lib. 20. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 19. Tract 13. in Ioan. Or were not sufficiently testified but rather sayd then proued which Tertullian lib. de Praeser derideth and sayth that the power of Heretiks was nothing like but rather contrary to the power of the Apostles for their vertue was not to rayse the Dead but rather to kill the liuing literally fullfilled in Caluin Bolsec in vita Caluini who pretending by his prayer to rayse a counterfaite dead man being then truly aliue was thought to be the cause that he was instantly slaine eyther by God or the Diuell In the same sense also Epiph. lib. 1. de haer cap. 30. vrgeth Ebion to rayse some dead man c. assuring himselfe that he could not doe any true Myracle by meanes of his false Faith yea though he called vpon the name of Christ. Not so the Myracles alleaged by your Aduersary which hauing beene wrought and belieued and most authentically testified by soe many most holy most prudent and learned Witnesses in confirmation of that Doctrine which is professed against you need no more to feare the laughter of Protestants thē the Myracles of former tymes as S. Austen saith had cause to feare the laughter of Pagans And such as belieue them not may iustly feare to be condemned as Pagans for belieuing nothing To deny therefore this Doctrine of Myracles seemeth noe lesse impious then to deny Christianity it selfe and to affirme that myracles haue ceased sithence the tyme of the Apostles were noe lesse vnreasonable then to reiect all humane Testimonies and in particuler the Authority of S. Augustine himsefe in those very places obiected by you For in that very place of S. Aug. de Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. which you alleage against Myracles That they were necessary before the world belieued to induce it to belieue And That he that
A Defence of the Appendix OR A REPLY TO CERTAINE AVTHORITIES alleaged in Answere to a Catalogue of Catholike Professors called An Appendix to the Antidote VVHEREIN Also the Booke fondly intituled The Fisher catched in his owne Net is censured And the sleights of D. Featly and D. VVhite in shifting off the Catalogue of their owne Professors which they vndertooke to shew are plainly discouered By L. D. To the R t. VVorshipfull Syr Humphry Lynde Eccles 7. v. 30. Solummodo hoc inueni quod fecerit Deus hominem rectum Et ipse se infinitis miscuerit quaestionibus Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXIIII TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL Syr Humphry Lynde SYR It may be you will take it vnkindly to see vnawares your selfe and your papers thus in print But I was moued to doe it by due cōsideration of that which followeth I receaued them not as secret neyther do I thinke you gaue them to be concealed You wrote against a printed Catalogue of Catholike Professors wherof a deare friend of mine is the Author giuen you vpon a former Conference which your self procured betweene some other of my Friends and your Doctors concerning a Protestant Catalogue which Conference though priuatly intēded was afterwards victoriously printed Wherefore writing them as you did against such a Booke and vpon such an occasion you might easily thinke they would be answered and it is not strāge they should come to be printed As the great opinion which others had of your deepe learning and your owne profession of your great skill and reading in the Fathers made me diligently to peruse those authorityes alleadged by you so hauing well examined them I thought my selfe diuers wayes obliged to giue a large full Reply vnto them And being as you are most extremely and most vehemētly distant in opinion from me no maruell if to be better vnderstood I speak so lowd that all the Land may heare me And for the same cause you must pardon me if I rather choose to expose both you my selfe to the iudgment of others then hauing takē some little paynes in this matter to make you the only iudge of my labours The old Maister Buggs being carried away with Ecce in Penetralibus thinketh to haue found the Messias in your study and was wholy transported with those chosen places and selected authorities contayned in your papers which tending to no lesse then the losse of his soule merited great compassion the like may happen to others which deserueth preuention Your owne Doctors haue already adorned the Pageant of their victory with the publication of your Names Vnto you is giuen the driuing on of the Chariot and the old Maister Buggs is led in Triumph Some perchance haue been taken in the net of the Title and may be freed againe by the net of Christ which therefore should not hange in the Riuers of priuate papers when the other flyeth in the ayre but should be cast into the Sea of the wide World to gather and draw togeather all kind of fishes In this net the Fishers themselues are happily taken and all they that are not taken are lost for euer The other of the Heretikes is but a net to catch flyes which though cūningly wrought must in tyme be swept away togeather with the Spiders They haue printed against vs and renewed an old Decree against our printing if no Reply should be made some of them would thinke that now they might lye by Proclamation What greater signe of falshood thē hauing told your owne tale to seeke to stop the mouthes of your Aduersaries with old Statutes But the State neuer intended to make a Law against God his Word will not be tyed All Princes should serue it and all printing Presses must be subiect vnto it Therfore no maruell if the taking of one Presse do set two more on worke and that your Doctors by seeking to suppresse the Truth do presse it forward You know then what moued me to diuulge your papers giuing the Fathers their due I haue told you your owne but sparingly and if you knew my hart you would see and confesse that I had done it friendly Belieue and you shall vnderstande Belieue the Fathers and you shall vnderstand the Fathers He that heareth not the visible vniuersall Church is no better then a Heathen and belieueth neyther Church nor Fathers but the vnlearned not knowing the doctrine of the Church and the vnstable forsaking that which they haue knowne as they peruerte the Scriptures so also they preuert the Fathers to their owne damnation from the which I beseech God deliuer you praying you likewise to thinke no otherwise of me then as of Your vnfaygned Friend and seruant in Christ L. D. THE AVTHORITIES ALLEADGED BY Syr Humphry Lynde agaynst the Appendix Of Myracles EPIPHANIVS conuinceth not Ebion of false beliefe because neyther he nor any of his faction had the gift of working Miracles but because Ebion lykened himselfe to Christ for his Circumcision and for his Birth and he answers him he could not be lyke to God for that he was but a mortall Man and was not able to rayse Lazarus out of the graue nor heale the sicke c. If he would be lykened to Christ he bid him to doe those things the which things if he had required at Epiphanius hands I thinke noe man but would haue doubted of the performance of them Read the place at large and you shall find it hath no such meaning as is heere alleadged Myracles were necessary before the world belieued to induce it to belieue and he that seeketh to be confirmed by wōders now is to be wondred at most of all himself in refusing to belieue what all the world belieueth besides himselfe De Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. in principio Shewed to be falsified Now we for our parts say not that we must be belieued that we are in the Church of Christ because Optatus or Ambrose hath commended this wherein we are or els because that in all places of the world where our Communiō is frequēted there are so many Myracles wrought of healing diseases c. For all these things that are done in the Catholike Church are approued in asmuch as they are done in the Catholike And not that it is therfore Catholike because such things are done there August de vnitat Eccles cap. 16. Tertullian They will say sayth he to excuse themselues for hauing followed Heresy that their Doctours haue confirmed the Fayth of their Doctrine that they haue raysed vp the dead restored the sicke foretould things to come so as they were worthily taken for Apostles As if sayth he this were not written that many should come working great Myracles to fortify the deceitfullnes of their corrupt preaching De Praescrip cap. 44. S. Hierome The Galathians had the gift of Healing and of Prophesy and yet they were insnared by the false Prophets and it is to be obserued that powers and signes are seene to be wrought in those that
and slights of the Doctors contayned in it they accuse it also of many grosse vntruthes without end or number in relating things out of due place and order to their owne aduantage in daubing and amplifying the speeches of D. Featly with much addition and substraction of matter As for Example 1. That M. Bugges the old Gentleman who first desired the former Dispute was sicke and solicited in his sicknes by some Papists about him to forsake his Religion And that it was feared he would haue fallen from his Fayth if he had not recouered of his sicknes which is altogeather false 2. That he was much confirmed in his Religion by hearing the former Disputation which vnlesse he did extreamly forget himself hauing often sayd the contrary is also false 3. That you Syr Humfrey found M. Fisher by chance in Drurie Lane whereas you know you came of purpose to offer him a friendly Conference with D. White 4. That M. Fisher hauing written the Question added vnder his owne hand he would answere vpon it negatiuely As challenging and expecting Opposers which was false for he was first asked by your self whether he would oppose or answere wherupon he wrote he would answere 5. That you Syr Humfrey tould M. Buggs if M. Fisher would come with foure or six at the most they should be admitted for his sake whereas it was expressely agreed on that D. White and M. Fisher should only bring an Assistant foure Witnesses and a Writer and no more with each of them and that the matter should be kept secret thereby to make the meeting very priuate Which M. Fisher duly obserued but when he came he found the house full of Protestants contrary to former agreement 6. That D. White and D. Featly being inuited by you to Dinner and staying a while after Dinner had notice giuen them as it were by chance that some Iesuits were in the next roome ready to confer with them and that the Doctors were at last perswaded to haue some Conference with them As if forsooth they had neuer heard of the meeting before when the truth is that some daies before D. White had receaued the Question and vndertooke to oppose agaynst it though afterward for more security he vsed D. Featly for his Champion and both of them came thither of purpose to make good the former challenge 7. The Question was falsely and sophistically printed by putting into the midst therof the figure of 2 in fauour of the Opposer who sought to make it a dubble Question 8. Before the Disputation began D. Featly hauing propounded many other poynts of Controuersie to diuert the Question That M. Sweete should answere they were scholasticall poynts not fundamentall Which was not so only he affirmed they were nothing to the purpose Which he was moued the rather to say because a little before he had desired two things of the Auditorie 1. That all bitter speeches might be forborne And 2. that nothing might be heard or spoken which was beside the Question 9. That M. Fisher being charged to haue slaundred Doctor White in a former Conference answered nothing which is false for he stood vp and solemnely protested vpon his Conscience that he neuer slaundred him 10. And againe that being charged to answere vpon his Conscience whether he belieued Christ and his Apostles taught the Protestant faith he refused to answere Which is meerely false It is true that D. Featly before he began to dispute coniured M. Fisher after an insolent manner to answere according to his conscience which M. Fisher accepted and wished him to doe the like I omit many other such Feates which the Hearers when they read affirmed to be plaine Lyes from whome soeuer they proceeded If the Doctors according to their vndertaking had giuen a sufficient and full Catalogue of their Professors in all Ages The Fisher had beene taken indeed in his owne Net and caught in the Question which himself propounded but contrarily hauing taken more vpon them then they were able to performe and not being able to set downe the Catalogue which according to the issue of the Question was then expected the Doctors themselues were manifestly taken in the Net of the Fisher Wherein by professing as they did that The true Church must be able to Name Professors in all Ages they haue so intangled themselues that howsoeuer they may dance in this Net to their owne shame and confusion they can neuer get out vntill they name them And now to come home againe to your selfe endeauoring in the meane tyme as you doe to ouerthrow the succession of their Church and not being able to shew another of yours what do you get or what do you seeke therby but only the ruine and demolishment both of your Church and theirs leauing no true Church vpō the earth which cannot subsist without a visible succession of Professors to be named in all Ages as you and your Doctors haue vrged And by consequence for wāt of such a visible Church you leaue no true Fayth at all nor true Religion in the world And who is a Naturall but he that denyes it Wherefore to conclude this Section your Doctors with a great deale of noyse hauing filled the aire with nothing but smoke If now their Aduersaries should turne their owne Ordinance against them and reason thus it is not your valor that would be able to defend them The Church that is Catholike as it ought to be or the Church whose fayth is Eternall or the Church of Christ and his Apostles must be able to name Successors in all Ages But the Protestant Church is not able to name the Professors of their Fayth nor the Successors therein to Christ and his Apostles in all Ages Ergo the Protestant Church is not Catholike as it ought to be nor the Church whose Fayth is eternall nor the Church of Christ and his Apostles The Maior is their owne and publickly produced by thē The Minor cānot be denyed vntill the Names be shewed Wherefore vntill this Fort be built how can you defēd them or where will you hide them from the power of this Gun-shot And yet as this worke is plainly impossible to be raysed or performed so it is no lesse impossible that the Protestants should be found the true Church by Consequence that any may be saued remayning in it Section II. In reference to a second point of the Appendix shewing their Conuersions in all Ages HAD you giuen vs such another Catalogue of your Professors as you receaued of theirs to make your party good agaynst thē you should haue shewed the like Conuersions of Heathen Nations to the Fayth of Christ by your Ministers in all Ages as that Booke hath shewed by their Apostolicall Preachers And that especially after those tymes wherin you pretend their Church was fallen and the spirit of God was departed from them As for Example in the third Age were conuerted Donaldus King of Scotland his Wife Children and Nobility The Court of
the fourth Age a sicke Woman cured and a dead Bodie restored to life by the wood of the Holy Crosse wheÌ„ it was first found out by Queene Helen Ruffin Hist. lib. 10. Cap. 7. 8. Seuer Sulpit. Hist sacra lib. 2. Paul Epist 11. Niceph. lib. 8. The same myraculously multiplyed to satisfy the deuotioÌ„ of all ChristiaÌ„s throughout the world Paul Ep. 11. Cyr. catech 10. Many other Myracles wrought by Reliques Chrys orat cont Gentes By holy-Water Epiph. haer 30. By adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Naz. orat 11. By prayers to our Lady Nazian in S. Cyp. By the merites of Martyrs Ambros serm 91. In the fifth Age many Myracles wrought by Reliques of S. Stephen Aug. lib. 22. de Ciuit. cap. 8. By the signe of the Crosse Constantinus lib. 1. cap 22. apud Surium Tomo 4. by S. German Also Myracles wrought by S. Hierome lying on his death bed and after his decease the blinde deafe dumbe and sicke were cured some by touching some by kissing his Corpes Eusebius Cremon Ep. de morte eius In the sixt Age Myracles wrought to confirme the Sacrifice of the Masse S. Greg. l. 4. Dial. cap. 57. and Reall Presence Euag. lib. 4. Hist cap. 35. Ioan. Diac. lib. 2. de vita S. Greg. cap. 41. To confirme the honour and inuocation of Saynts Procop orat de Edificat Iustin. Euag. loco â—it Greg. de Myrac S. Martini l. 2. cap. 5. 6. 7. The vse of Images in Processions and how by one of our Blessed Ladyes painted by S. Luke a contagious Pestilence was dispelled in Rome Ciac in Greg. 1. From another Image stabbed by a Iew issued bloud Greg. Turon de glor Mart. cap. 22. Sigeb ann 560. Holy Oyle flowed from a Crosse and from an Image of our Blessed Lady curing many diseases Baron ann 564. Thus the Author of the Catalogue you receaued And the like Myracles he sheweth in the rest of the succeeding Ages As many more he might haue added aswell in the first fiue hundred yeares as after but that he thought it not necessary and therefore spared the labour to recollect them Which myraculous attestations we must eyther belieue and by consequence must also confesse those poynts of Religion confirmed by them or els we shall not only condemne all Christian Antiquity of lying and belieuing of lyes but must lykewise reiect all euidence of credibility founded vpon human testimony which is no lesse then to destroy the very foundatioÌ„s both of Church and Common-wealth and all Society Wherefore to binde this Burden also on your backe that it may sit the closser I will winde it vp in this manner That Church whose Doctrine hath beene confirmed by Myracles in all Ages is the true Church of Christ and his Apostles But such is the Doctrine of the Catholike and not of the Protestant Church Ergo the Catholike and not the Protestant Church is the true Church of Christ and his Apostles Section IIII. In reference to a fourth poynt of the Appendix shewing the Doctrine of the Protestants to haue beene censured and condemned by the Fathers in all Ages HAd you likewise confirmed your Doctrine by such diuine Authority you should haue shewed some one point of their Religion censured by any of the Fathers or condemned by any lawfull Counsell as that Booke quoteth aboue twenty of yours notoriously opposed and condemned by them As for Example Iustification by Fayth only and Deniall of Iustice by Workes condemned in Symon Magus Iren. lib. 1. cap. 20. Extrinsecall Iustice by imputatioÌ„ only in the Gnostickes Iren. lib. 1. cap. 5. That no sinne can hurt them that are indewed with Fayth in Eunomius Epiph. haer 76. Aug. haer 64. That sinne abideth in the regenerate condemned in Proclus Epiph. haer 64. That Baptisme doth not washe away sinne condemned in the Messalians Theod lib. 4. haer fab Neglect of the ceremonies of Baptisme condemned in Nouatus Euseb lib. 6. Of holy Chrisme and the seale of our Lord which is the signe of the Crosse so called condemned in Nouatus and his Disciples Theod. lib. 3. haer fab Derisions of Exorcismes and Exufflations in Baptisme condemned in the Pelagians August de Nat. concupis lib. 2. cap. 29. The Absolution of Priests not auaileable and the abolishment of Confession condemned in Nouatus and his Disciples Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 23. Cornel. apud Euseb lib. 6. cap. 43. Theod. lib. 3. haer fab Pacian lib. aduers eos Denyall of inioyned Pennance in the Audians Theod. l. 4. haer fab Denyall of the Reall Presence condemned in Iudas Iscariot Claud. Xanct. Rep. 2. de Eucha cap. 14. Chrys hom 46. in Ioan. 6. In the Simonians and Saturnians Theod. Dial. 3. condemned likewyse by Iren. l. 4. cap. 34. post medium Impugning the reseruation of the B. Sacrament condemned in the Anthropomorphites Cyr. ad Calosyr Denyall of Oblations and Prayers for the Dead condemned in Aerius Aug. haer 53 Epiph. haer 65. Denyall of Freewill condemned in Symon Magus Clem. Roman Recog lib. 3. In the Manichees Aug. lib. cont Fortunat. Manic Ordination and Predestination to sinne and by consequence that God is the Author of sinne condemned in the Predestinate Sigeb 415. Geneb in Zosimo condemned likewise in Symon Magus Vin. Lirin adu prop. haeret nouitat cap. 34. And in Florinus Euseb lib. 5. cap. 20. That Saynts are not to be inuocated condemned in Vigilantius Hier. cont Vigil cap. 2. 3. The Images of Christ and his Saynts not to be worshipped condemned in Xenaias Niceph. lib. 16. cap. 27. Worship of Saints Reliques to be Idolatry condemned in Eustachius Socrat. l. 2 cap. 33. and condemned likewise in Vigilantius Hier. 161. Impugnation of single life and vowed Chastity and that Marriage is equall to Virginity condemned in Heluidius and Iouinian Hier. cont Heluid Iouin Disallowance of prescript Fasts condemned in Aerius Epip haer 75. August haer 53. and in Eustachius Socrat. lib. 2. cap. 33. Noe difference of Merits in Heauen condemned in Iouinian Hier. lib. 2. aduers Iouin Good vse of Riches preferred before Euangelicall Pouerty condemned in Vigilantius S. Thom. opusc 17. Denyall of one Chiefe Pastor in Earth condemned in Nouatus Euseb lib. 6. cap. 43. Denyall of vnwritten Traditions condemned in the Valentinians Tertul. lib. de Praesc hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 16. lib. 3. cap. 36. That the visible Catholike Church might remaine in one parte and perish in the rest of the world condemned in the Donatists Aug. cont lit Petil. l. 2. cap. 108. lib. de Vnitat Eccles cap. 2. per totum librum Thus the Author of the Catalogue whereunto if I should adde out of the ProtestaÌ„t Apology page 74. and page 127. and pag. 207. how insolently and impiously the most and best learned Protestant-writers doe likewise censure and condemne the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares I know you would be ashamed to reade them But this may suffice to giue the Reader iust
occasion to admire the little conscience of your late English Doctors in challenging the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares wherein if their Aduersaries might come to an indifferent and equall tryall with them the very Titles of the Fathers Books against them were sufficient to ouerthrow them Only in this place I will giue the Reader this short Notandum for the which if he desire sincerely to know and belieue the Doctrine of the Fathers he shall haue cause to thanke me When any of the holy Fathers do censure any poynt of Doctrine taxing it of Heresy or noteth it as the particuler opinion of some Heretike or reproueth it very much or wondreth at it especially if it be such a thing as euery learned Man may easily know or was necessary to be taught and that no other Father did therein oppose himself against him It is an euident Testimony that his Doctrine therein was the generall Doctrine of the Church at that tyme and ought to be so receaued of the Ages that follow Wherefore the Author of that Booke hauing shewed so many poynts of your Doctrine to haue beene so notoriously cēsured and condemned by the Auncient Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares in the Hetetikes of those tymes besides many other poynts and some of those also condemned by Fathers and Councells in after Ages whereunto you haue not answered a word it is for ought I can see or perceaue a cleare demonstration that the Fathers of those tymes were theirs and that eyther your Professors were none at all or no other then those that were condemned by them Thus all things with them are infallibly certaine easie to be knowne and most conspicuous They follow the streame and current of that Doctrine which by many knowne Successions of holy and learned Men Martyres and Bishops as it were by so many Channells they deriue from Christ and his Apostles They follow the fame and greatnes of that Church which by conuerting Countries and Nations in all Ages is become eminent and apparent aboue all other sortes of Christians like a Citty vpon a Hill aboue the Moale-hills or like the Little Stone in Daniel which growing to be a Mountaine filleth the world with it's greatnes They follow the security of those Letters-Patents which the hand of God hath signed with his owne Seale and cōmended to the world by Attestation of many Myracles in confirmation of their Doctrine And lastly they follow the infallible and powerfull Authority of that Body which by Cēsures of Doctors Decrees of Coūcells from tyme to tyme hath euer confounded all those that opposed themselues against it While you in the meane tyme without any lineall Descente from those whome you pretend to haue beene your Auncestors without the Progenie of any Gentills conuerted by you without any warrant of Gods hand or sentence of his Iudges for you do still remayne in the darcknes of your inuisible Church tossed in the Sea of Error with euery winde of new Doctrine not knowing certainly whome to follow nor what to belieue vntill at the last euen the wisest of you being wearie of seeking and desperate of finding that which they seeke come to hold all opinions probable which is in effect to belieue nothing Good Syr had you produced such a Successiō such cōuersions of Nations such Myracles and Censures in the defence of your Church as that Booke hath shewed in confirmation of theirs all zealous Protestants had been bound to haue fallen at your feete and to haue honoured you for euer But now on the other side against such weighty and massie matters such cleare and conuincing proofes as these not being able to giue in euidence so much as one Professor in euery Age nor in any Age the conuersion of any Nation or the testimony of any Myracle or the Censure of any one Father in fauour of your Religion who seeth not that insteed of reason there is nothing but passion on your part and certainly for the honour of your cause it were better to hold your peace then reply so weakely in a matter of such importance For besides all that hath beene sayd against many other most expresse Sentences of the Auncient Fathers in those very poynts which you haue chosen to touch you haue only produced a few dribling Authorities as it were on the Bye some falsely translated and some falsely cited and some in respect of other expresse words agaynst you plainely falsified that not to accuse you of a bad Conscience though you make profession to be much versed in the Fathers yet the Reader must needes think you neuer saw or read so much as those few places which your selfe haue cited but only tooke them by retaile frō others And howsoeuer though they were admitted and taken as you giue them vp yet in my poore opinion they eyther touch not your Aduersaries at all or being a little considered make rather with them then against them Which sheweth great want of iudgment in you and I verily thinke if you will be pleased to examine them with me I shall make you see it Wherefore as in the former Section soe that you may know in this also how far you are chargable I giue you the summe of your accompt in this manner The Doctrine of that Church which was condemned by the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares was condemned by Christ and his Apostles But the Doctrine of the Protestant Church was condemned by the Fathers of the first 500. yeares as the most and best learned Protestants themselues haue also confessed Ergo the Doctrine of the Protestant Church was likewise condemned by Christ and his Apostles Section V. Myracles defended to be a sufficient Testimony of Truth and the Doctrine of the Fathers therein declared WHerefore to begin as you doe with Myracles most certaine it is that no true Myracle can be wrought but only by him Qui facit mirabilia magna solus and therefore whēsoeuer any true Myracle is shewed or sufficiently testified vnto vs in confirmation of any point of Doctrine it is an euident proofe of the truth thereof For a Myracle in that case is the Testimony of God who speaketh by workes as men by wordes sayth S. Aug. Epist 49. quaest 6. and is the subscription as it were of his hand and seale vnto it And certainly if Myracles were no sufficiēt proofes of true Doctrine they would neuer haue beene called Signes and Testimonyes in holy Scripture God would not haue giuen Moyses power of working Myracles Exod. 4. That the People of Israel might belieue he had appeared vnto him Our Sauiour would not haue sayd the Iewes had not sinned in not receauing him if he had not done those workes which no man els had done before him Ioan. 15. And in vayne should he haue promised that Signes should follow those that belieued and haue cooperated and confirmed the Doctrine of the Apostles by them Neyther could he in Iustice haue commaunded the world