this I say be true as is prooued to be in this Chapter what other inferēce can be made but that Protestancy and the Protestant Church for want of knowing and acknowledging what doctrines are Protestancy and what sorts of men are Protestants are in themselues but meer empty aëry conceyts and for want of all true and reall subsistence but a Non-Entity The Non-Entity of Protestancy demonstrated from that euery Protestant eyther in himselfe or in his Predecessours originally departed and came out from the Roman Catholike Church CHAP. XVI AN other Medium to proue that Protestancy is a meer Irreality or Non-Entity may be this Yf it can be proued that Protestancy is more late yong then the Catholike Religion is then followeth it that Protestancy cannot haue any true and reall Subsistence Fot if our Catholike Roman Religion had a being before Protestancy and that Protestancy did appeare long after and consisteth only in the denyall of most of the Articles of the Catholike Religion then followeth it vnauoydably that Protestancy is but an imaginary Conceyte or Fabricke of the imagination without any foundation of Being for seing the Catholike Fayth the Protestant Faith are directly contradictory oppositly repugnāt both of them cannot enioy a reall Being for if they could thē meer Contradictories this is denyed that it can be performed euen by Gods Power should enioy a true and Reall Being togeather Now that Protestancy is more late or of a newer date then the Roman Religion I thus proue There cannot any one Protestāt be alledged speaking of such Protestants as are out of Cōtrouersy and acknowledged for such both by Protestant and Catholike who was not eyther in himselfe or in his Forefathers first a Catholike who by dogmatizing some Protestant Opinions afore neuer generally taught did separate himselfe depart from the Cath. Church then afore in Being Of which sort of men these wordes in S. Iohn are vnderstood Exierūt ex nobis 1. Ioan. 2. The very stampe or signature of Innouatours in doctrine Let vs exemplify this in the first and chiefest Protestants I will begin with Ochinus so ascend higher This Ochinus who was a chiefe mā in disseminating of Protestancy in England in King Edwards dayes was first a (a) So saith Sleidan l. 9. at anno 1547. fol. 297. Monke and forsaking his Monastical life began to preach Protestancy (b) Osiander Cent. 16. l. 1. c. 33. Bucer was at the first also a Moke vpon his reading of Luthers booke of Vowes forsooke his Monastery married a womā Swinglius * So saith Hospiniā in hystor Sacram. fol. 22. was first a Catholike Priest publike Preacher at Tigure in Switzerlād Luther was a Priest an (c) In his Epist to his Father extat tom 2. Wittēberg printed 1568. fol. 269. Austin Friar vpō his first reuolt from the Papacy tooke to wife Caterine Bore as the whole world knoweth Now that there was no other Church in Being before Luthers Apostacy then the Roman Catholike Church appeareth from the liberal acknowledgmēt of the learned Protestāts For M. Perkins thus writes (d) In his Expositiō vpon the Creed p. 400. VVe say that before the dayes of Luther for the space of many hundred yeares an Vniuersall Apostasy so ouerspread the face of the Church that is was not then visible to the world And Doctour Iewell confesseth no lesse saying (e) In his Apolog. of the Church pant 4. c. 34. The truth was vnknowne at that tyme vnheard of when Martin Luther Hulderick Swinglius first came to the knowledge and preaching of the Gospell Yea Luther himself euen Thrasonically contesteth this poynt in these his words (f) Luther in epist ad Argentinens anno 1525. Christum à nobis primò vulgatum audemus gloriari so cleare it is that Luther was originally a Catholike and that at his first rising there was no Protestant Church in the world But to proceed further Husse was a Catholike Priest before his reuolt and wholy till that tyme imbraced the Catholike Fayth as (g) In Colloq de Antichristo Luther and (h) In Apocalip c. 11. p. 290. M. Fox do testify Ierome of Prague was first a Catholike and after became an Heretike who being at the Councell of Constance renounced openly his heresies but after apostating the second tyme he lost his lyfe VVicleff was first a Catholike Priest and Parson of Lutterworth in Licestershyre and first abandoned his Religion because he was depriued of a Benefice by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury as (i) In his Annals of England printed 1591. pa. 425. Stow recordeth VValdo was a rich man of Lyons in France and originally a Catholike of whome D. Humfrey thus writeth (k) In Iesuitism part 2. rat 3. pag. 270 he did forsake all things that being poore he might better follow Christ and the Euangelicall perfections The VValdensis who were deriued of VValdo and thereupon so called were an Order of begging Fryars and did professe as the said D. Hunfrey writeth (l) vbi supra a kind of Monasticall lyfe And of the VValdenses doctrine in particular Caluin thus writeth (m) Epist 244. The forme of the Confession of the VValdenses doth inuolue all those in eternall damnation who do not confesse that the bread is truly become the body of Christ They also euer taught seauen Sacraments Vowes single lyfe and Purgatory (n) In tractat de Eccles pag. 124. as u Morgensternensis a Lutheran writeth The Albigenses were the same men with the Waldenses and therfore were originally Catholikes for thus D. Abbots writeth thereof (o) In his second part of the defence printed 1607. pog 55. Thus Lyonists or poore men of Lyons and Waldenses or Albigenses were the same men but diuersly and vpon diuers occasions tearmed by the Romish Synagogue Berengarius was Archdeacon of Angiers in France and therefore it followeth that he was Catholicke till his denyall of the doctrine of Transubstantiation and yet after he abandoning his Heresy dyed (p) As witnesseth Fox in Act. Mon. pag. 13. Catholyke Now to rise to higher tymes The like may be sayd of the auncient Nouelists broaching some poynts of Protestancy As Aerius denying prayer for the dead Manicheus freewill Iouinian teaching Virginity to be no better thē mariage Donatus denying the Visibility of the Church and all others of those tymes without exception From which men are descended the Aerians Manicheans Iouinians c. taking their denomination from the former men according to that Chrpsost Homil. 3. in act Apolog Prout Haeresiarchae Nomen ita Secta vocatur All which men were originally Catholikes and most of them Priests and vpō their broaching of these their particular opinions of Protestancy did depart from their knowne common Mother then in Being That these men and all such others of those tymes were originally Catholykes and departed frō a more auncient Church by forging these their
THE NON-ENTITY OF PROTESTANCY OR A Discourse wherein is demonstrated that Protestancy is not any Reall thing but in it selfe a Platonicall Idaea a wast of all Positiue Fayth and a meere NOTHING VVritten by a Catholike Priest of the Society of IESVS Dormierunt somnium suum NIHIL inuenerunt Psalm 73. Vae Prophetis insipientibus qui sequuntur Spiritum suum NIHIL vident Ezech 13. Permissu Superiorum 1633. TO THE IVDICIOVS AND LEARNED PROTESTANT LEARNED MEN This Treatise vvas for you chiefly first vndertaken The Ground-vvorke vvhereupon the Systema or Frame thereof is built is a mixture of Philosophy and Schoole-diuinity Points vvith reference to the more ignorant Protestant being as the Schoole Dialect is extra sphaeram Actiuitatis that is beyond the limited apprehēsion of their shallovv narrovv conceits It is but small you see in Quantity but I hope it vvill hould out in vveight The subiect of it is vnusuall and to my knovvledge heertofore ex professo not much vvalked in or tracted It is also no doubt nauseous and displeasing to you seeing it attempteth to prooue that your Religion is in it selfe a meere Non-Entity It s Being consisting in a Not-being and Essence in vvant of Essence That Religiō of yours I meane vvhich at this day hath inuaded seuerall parts in Europe vvhose high flight is mantained only vvith the vvings of certayne Princes Commonvvealths povver and greatnes vvhich violently carries vvhere it reignes all things before it vvith the impetuous streame of its ovvne torrent briefly to vvhich for our not yielding obedience in our ovvne Coūtry so great heauy mulcts and pressures are imposed vpō Recusants though euen in al Iustice the paying of Nothing is a sufficient penalty for the not professing of vvhat is Nothing I confesse it is painfull to discourse vvell of Nothing as it is difficult to run a diuision of knovvledge vpon the ground of ignorance Neuertheles since your ovvne learning vvill force you to giue assent to those Theorems of Diuinity and Philosophy vpō the Arch vvherof the vveight of the vvhole Treatise resteth I am not vvholy in despayre but that at the closure of all your morning more retired thoughts as being voyded of preiudice may perhaps entertaine it vvith a more indifferent and impartiall Censure If you heere demand hovv can this great Attempt of mine be performed for great in your Iudgements it must yet needs be thought in shevving that Protestancy is in its ovvne Nature a Non-Entity that its All is Nothing as not hauing any reality of Being to support it to this I ansvvere omitting other reasons heerafter insisted vpon that since Protestancy consisteth only in the denyalls and Priuations of Affirmatiue points of our Christian and Romane Fayth vvhich denyalls and Priuations in their ovvne nature are Irreall as heerafter vvill be euicted that therefore it is vvholy disuested of all true Subsistence or Being For vvho obserueth not that Protestancy is a Religion resting more in denyalls of Truths then in defence of Positiue and formall Errours The veyle vnder vvhich Protestācy masked it selfe vvhen it first entred vpon the stage vvas the outvvard apparence of a gratefull Reformation vvhich vvord of Reformation is by them vsed as in opposition to a precedent Corruption from vvhich the Protestants professe to rescue and deliuer the Church of God Which Corruption they say vvas first brought in by the Bishop of Rome (a) Symon de Voron in his discourse vpon the Catalogue of Doctours Epist to the Reader VVho ouervvhelmed the vvhole vvorld in the dreggs of Antichristian filthynes abominable Superstitions Traditions c. Thus did the first Protestants thinke good to cloath their naked Religion in the fayre attire of a presumed Reformation vvhich Reformation consisteth onely in an vtter subuerting and destroying of most of our Affirmatiue Catholike Articles of fayth and in lieu of them in introducing the Negatiues so as by this proceeding the Protestants may be said to speake allusiuely to trench ouer neere vpon Gods Omnipotēcy in attempting to exercise the tvvo Acts of Creation Annihilation peculiar to his diuine Maiesty for their ovvne Protestant faith as grounded only vpon Negatiues and Priuations they haue dravvne out of an Abysse and Informity of Nothing and our Positiue and Affirmatiue Catholike fayth they labour vvhat they can by such their molitions to reduce to Nothing And although the Protestants doe endeauour to enamell guilde ouer their Negatiue fayth vvith many detorted misapplyed Texts of Sacred Writ by the help of the Priuate reuealing Spirit their Oedipus that so it may appeare glorious in an erring eye neuertheles certaine it is that after such testimonies are truly ballanced and vveighed by the Authority of the vvhole Church of God all such fading splendour of Protestancy doth but resemble the light of a Glovv-vvorme vvhich the neerer one comes to it the lesser it appeares til in the end it vvholy vanisheth avvay But seeing a short Preface best sorteth to a short discourse I vvill heer stay my Penn remitting the learned Reader to the diligent impartiall perusall of these ensuing Leaues assuring him that it impugneth the light of Reason since God and Nothing are incompatible that he vvhome the Philosophers for his greater Perfection of Essence style Ens Entium should be truly honoured vvith a Religion vvhich is a Non-Ens Your in Christ Iesus W. B. THE CONTENTS OF the seuerall Chapters Certaine Prolegomena of which the first is CHap. 1. That in all positiue Affirmatiue points of Faith the Protestants do agree with the Catholikes The Protestants borrowing the sayd Affirmatiue points frō the Church of Rome Chap. 2. The second Prolegomenon viz. In such points of fayth wherin Protestancy differeth from the Romane Church all the sayd points are meerely Negations to the contrary Affirmatiue Articles belieued by the Church of Rome Chap. 3. That the Protestants haue often corrected and reformed their Translations of the Bible and the Lyturgy or common Booke of Prayer in fauour of their Negatiue Religion euery later excepting against the former as corrupt and impure Chap. 4. That Protestancy is a Non-Entity proued frō the Principles of Schoole Diuinity Philosophy Chap. 5. The Non-Entity of Protestancy by reason of its Negations proued from the like supposed Example of a Philosopher denying most Principles of Philosophy Chap. 6. That the Heathen Philosopher conspireth with the Protestant in the denyall of most if not all of such points of Religion wherein the Protestant by his lyke denyall of them differeth from the Catholike Chap. 7. That Protestancy is but a Nullity of Fayth and consequently with reference to fayth a Non-Entity proued from the definition of Fayth and other conditions necessarily annexed thereto Chap. 8. That Protestancy cannot be defined And that therefore it is a Non-Entity Chap. 9. That Protestancy consisteth of Doctrines meerly Contradictory in themselues and that therefore Protestancy is a Non Entity Chap. 10. That Heresy
these he taketh not from himselfe but borroweth them from the Catholike Church This is euideÌ„t for at the tyme of Luthers first reuolt who was the first Protestant in these dayes as his owne (g) Conrad Slâ—es in Theol. Caluin l. 2. fol 17. saith It is imâ—udency to say thaâ— any learned men in Germany before Luther did hould the doctrine of the Gospel See Luther of this point in loc coÌ„m class 4. p. 51. brethren do teach from whence did Luther learne that Christ was the Sauiour of the world that there is diuine Scripture Grace SacrameÌ„ts or from whence receaued he his Ordination if not from the Catholike Church The confessed Inuisibility of the ProtestaÌ„t Church not only at the first rising of Luther but also for many ages before proued in this Treatise doth conuince the truth of this point And therefore D. Field had iust reason to say (h) D. Field in his Treatise of the Church lib. 3. c. pag. 72. In the known Church of the world wherin our Ancestors liued and dyed Luther and the rest were baptized receaued their Ordinance and power of Ministry If now any other should at last expostulate and say that the Protestant is wronged by comparing him to the Heathen Philosophers seeing many of those Philophers were Idolaters to this I reply and say that the comparison heer made is not with such wicked Philosophers but only with those most learned Philosophers who acknowledged a Deity and neuer taught nor formally practised Idolatry and such were Plato Xenophon Aristotle Seneca and many others Againe the coÌ„formity in faith heere made is not touching those points which the Philosophers affirmatiuely belieued or practised but only in such negatiue Positions which are also denyed by the Protestant And with this I will heere rest concluding nothing of my selfe but will referre it to the censure of the most iudicious Reader whether this great affinity and brotherly association between the learned Heathen Philosopher and the symbolizing Protestant in their both promiscuously denying such Articles as are affimed by the Catholiks do carry any blemish to the Protestants Gospell or no or whether if the Heathen haue no reall Fayth in the sayd negatiue points it followeth not that the Protestant as a Protestant can haue in like sort no reall fayth in his belieuing the same Negatiue points But by this we may discerne that the cloudes of partiality and contradiction being once gathered about the maÌ„s iudgment doth make him thinke others to seeme lesse and to erre when indeed they doe not That Protestancy is but a Nullity of fayth and consequently with reference to fayth a Non-entity proued from the definition of faith and other Conditions necessarily annexed to Fayth CHAP. VII EVery definition of a thing is the Touchstone wherewith we try what other things can truly come within the Orb or coÌ„passe of the thing defined what not I will exemplify this in the definition of fayth deliuered by the Apostle and so see if the Fayth of a Protestant can be called fayth or rather in respect of Faith a NoÌ„entity absence of fayth We finde that the Apostle defineth Fayth in these wordes (a) Heb. 11. Fides est sperandarum substantia rerum argumentum non apparentium That is fayth is the substance of thinges to be hoped for the argument of thinges not appearinge This definition sheweth by the iudgement of all learned men that Fayth is a supernaturall vertue and the obiectum thereof is that which throgh its owne abstrusnes and sublimity cannot be apprehended or conceaued by force of mans owne wit it transcending all naturall reason To exemplify this in the supreme Articles of the most blessed Trinity and the Incarnation the two Cardinall-mysteries of Christian fayth Fayth teacheth vs that in the Trinity there is one peculiar Nature in three different Persons Now mans naturall vnderstaÌ„ding cannot apprehend how this Indiuiduality of Nature can be in three Persons without distraction or multiplication of the nature the rather seeing euery one of these Persons is identifyed really formally with this Nature the strickest vnion that can be conceaued In like sort touching the Incarnation by meanes whereof the Creatour of all flesh suffered in flesh mans reason cannot lay any true leuell to conceaue how one Hypostasis or person caÌ„ be in two natures or how this Hypostasis or person is identifyed made the same really with the diuine nature and yet is vnited most inwardly with the humane nature Thus in regard of the difficulty of belieuing Articles of fayth the conclusion among all the Schoole Deuines resulting out of the former definitioÌ„ of fayth is that (b) S. Thomas part 2 2. q. 1. quae fidei sunt non possunt esse scita so certayne it is that betweene mans Capacity and the Nature of supernaturall Fayth the proportion lyes onely in disproportion and that in matters of fayth euen reason dictates to vs to belieue against Reason Now to apply this if Protestancy be a supernaturall fayth or els it is no true-sauing fayth then the Obiect of this Protestanticall fayth is of that difficult nature as Man through the force of natural reason caÌ„not giue any assent therto without the special concurrency of Gods Grace But heer now I demaund that seeing the Obiect of Protestancy as Protestancy is meere negations and denials of things to be as aboue is proued what supernaturality as I may terme it or force of Gods speciall concurrency is required that man should giue his assent to belieue that such or such a thing is not as for example that there is no Purgatory no place but Heauen for children dying vnbaptized no praying to Saints no inherent Iustice and so of the rest denyed by them I heer say that mans naturall reason euen of it selfe without any other externall help is propense inclining to giue assent to these all other negations except the affirmatiues to these negations can be conuinced for true eyther by diuine or humane proofes and authorityes so litle is any supernaturall assistance needfull heerto If then the obiect of Protestancy by reason of its Negations be most easy to be belieued and that the beliefe of it doth not surmouÌ„t the force of mans naturall reason but rather most sorting and agreable thereto then if the Apostles definition of Fayth be true as I trust no Protestant is of that supercilious and froward disposition as to deny it followeth that Protestancy is not the Obiect of Supernaturall Fayth but in respect of true infused sayth is a Non-entity and bare Intentionality But to proceed further The Schoole-men (c) S. Tho. part 2 q. 5 teach that true and Supernaturall Fayth hath a necessary reference to two things the first is called prima veritas reuelans which is God who reuealeth all truths points of fayth This first is styled by the diuines Obiectum formale fidei The second thing required to Fayth especially after the Church
of the opinion relyeth vpon the truth of the matter yet here the truth of the matter relyeth vpon the truth of the opinion The third poynt is the actuall fayth which (h) Luth. in l. de captin Babil Kem. in 2. part Exam. Concil Trident ad Can. 3. Centurist Cent. 1. c. 4. Cet 5. col 5.7 Luther and the Lutheranes ascribe to infants at that very instant that they are baptized Now coÌ„mon sense and the force of reason assureth vs that there is not nor can be any such faith in childreÌ„ but that this is in it self a meer Chymera PhaÌ„tasy for first doth not the poore InfaÌ„ts strugling what they can in time of their bodies immersion into the water manifestly impugne this aëry conceite Since if at that instant they did belieue they should offend God by such their resistance and so by this meanes they should commit sinne rather then haue their Originall sinne remitted Agayne how can Infants belieue except they heare (i) Rom. 10 Fides ex auditu Thus I leaue to euery one to iudge of what truth of Being or reall Existency this doctrine hath in it selfe And thus farre of these former aëry speculations of doctrine broached by the Protestants though but briefly touched by me for how can one wel extend himselfe in discoursing of such points which in theÌ„selues do want al extension In the vnfoulding wherof I labour not so much to display the falshood absurdity of theÌ„ which neuertheles incidently is by this meanes partly discouered as to make euident according to my methode vndertaken that not any of the sayd Protestants Positions or Tenets haue any Reality or Being but that they are meerely forged in the imagination without ground or foundation of any true and Positiue subsistence The last of the Protestant Positions omitting diuers others for greater breuity in which I will insist shall be touching the Protestant Church shewing that it â—s Nothing in it selfe but only a Church framed in the ayre and accordingly the Protestants are forced couertly to discourse of it â—n a mist of darke wordes so painters veyle that which they cannot delineate by Art But since this wil require a more large discourse branching it selfe into two parts I haue therefore purposely reserued the two next Chapters for the fuller dissecting of the same That the Protestant Church is a meerâ— Non-Entity or Idea proued from the confessed Inuisibility thereof CHAP. XII IN our entreating of the Protestant Church first we are to recall to mynd the definition giuen thereof by the Protestants secoÌ„dly the confessed Inuisibility of the sayd Church for many hundred yeares from both which poynts the resultaÌ„cy will be that the Protestant Church and consequently Protestancy as mantained by the sayd Church is but an vnreall thinge And to beginne with the definition (a) Lib. Institut 4. c. 1. Sect. 2. in minori Instit c. 8. Sect 4. Caluin defineth the true Church and therefore in his owne iudgement the Protestant Church to consist only of the number of the faythfull Elect and only to be knowe to God Now what other thing is this Church then a bare Intention as â—he Philosophers speake or phanâ—asme wrought in the shop of his owne brayne for first seeing no man can know who be those other men who are of the Elect who truly belieue how can it be knowne who are the members who make this Church or where it is Againe this definition rather destroyeth and taketh away the Church then describes or constitutes it For if all the workes euen of the iustified be mortall sinnes as (b) Luth. in Assert art 32. Luther and (c) Art 6. 20. Confessio Augustana do teach and that if only the â—ust do make this Church then followeth that no man is of the Church and consequently that the Protestant Church thus defined is but a meer Platonicall Idaea the reason heereof being because there are no iust men in the world since the workes of men are sins Next we will descend to the Inuisibility of the Protestant Church confessed by the learned Protestants for many ages or ratheâ— since the dayes of the Apostles In handling of which point I will first set down the ackowledgmeÌ„ts of the learned Protestants of their Churches Inuisibility and then after I will draw from thence the necessary deduction of sequence for prouing the Irreality for aëry Intentionality of the Protestants fayth and Religion And first it is ouer euident that D. Perkins thus confesseth of the inuisibility of the Protestants Church (d) In his expositioÌ„ of the Creed For many hundred yeares our Church was not visible to the world An vniuersall Apostasy ouerspeading the whole face of the earth And yet more particuâ—erly he thus acknowledgeth (e) Perkins vbi supra during the space of nine hundred yeares the Popish heresy hath spread it selfe ouer the whole earth But Sebastianus Francus a learned and very markeable Protestant confesseth more largely of this point thus writing (f) In ep de aebrogâ—ndis in vniuersun omnibus statutis Ecclesiast For certayne through the worke of Antichrist the externall Church togeather with the fayth and Sacraments vanished away presently after the Apostles departure that for these fourteene hundred yeares the Church hath not beene externall and visible To whose iudgement D. Fulke to omit for breuity the like Confessions of diuers other Protestants subscribeth in these wordes (g) D Fulâ— in his answere to a Counterfeyte Catholike pag. 35. The true Church decayed immediatly after the Apostles tyme. Now to inferre and deduce Conclusions first then if the Protestant Church hath had no Being since the death of the Apostles as we see by the acknowledgmeÌ„ts of the learned Protestants themselues it hath not had but hath laine hid so many yeares in a vast Chaos of nothing then followeth it that the Protestant Church is only an Imaginary thing hauing no substantiality as I may terme it or existence in it selfe Secondly I thus inferre If the Protestant Church hath no reall Being or existence in it selfe but is a poore fabrick of the imagination then followeth it vnauoidably that the Protestant fayth must necessarily partake of the nature of the Protestant Church I meane not to be any reall or subsisting thing For how can that faith be positiue or reall of which there haue beene for so many ages confessed and indeed for all ages without exception no meÌ„bers of the Church to make profession of the sayd fayth This I auerre is â—bsurd to mantaine since we see a shadow caÌ„not produce a shadow Agayne I adde heere to that by reason of inherency there is a necessary reference in euery Acâ—ident to its Subiect if the subiect be wanting then followeth it that the Accident as loosing its Inherency is also wanting and becommeth Nothing now then Protestancy or the fayth of a ProtestaÌ„t suppose it be any thing must be a quality and consequently an Accident
Ibid. p. â—60 It is great probability with them meaning with the Catholikes that so we make our selues answerable to fynd out a distinct and seuerall Church from the Apostles age till this present els needs we must acknowledge that our Church is sprung of late or since theirs Thus these Protestants for the vphoulding of their own Church are forced to teach that the Catholike Church the Protestant are but one and the same Church Now if any Protestant seeking to redeeme his Church from such dangers as are in this Treatise threatned to fall vpon it as besides Inuisibility and want of Succession of Pastours the blemish of being an Irreality and Non-entity c. should for his last despairing refuge answere with the former Authours that the Protestant Church and the Roman Church are but one that seeing the Roman Church hath euer beene in being and Visible that therefore the Protestant Church as being the same Church with the Roman is heerby freed from all those spots and blemishes of Inuisibility want of Succession Irreality want of true subsistence c. heer in this Treatise aboue inforced Therefore to preuent all such poore and needy tergiuersatioÌ„ for falshood would gladly shroud it selfe vnder the wings of truth I will heer discouer the absurdity of this their supposall by demoÌ„strating that the Catholike Church and the Protestant Church cannot be one and the same Church so certaine it is that there is no CoÌ„munion betweene Christ and Beliall And first If we take into our consideration what it is which maketh the true Church for speaking of the Church of God we must needs vnderstand thereby the true Church seeing God hath no false Church for that sentence of S. Cyprian Cyprian lib. de Vâ—ita â— Eccles is true adulterari non potest sponsa Christi incorrupta est pudica To this is replyed that men professing the truth of Christian Religion make this Church Well then if so it can be proued that the Catholikes and the ProtestaÌ„ts do maintaine such contrary Articles of fayth as that of necessity the one part must be false consequeÌ„tly not to be belieued by the Members of Christs Church theÌ„ followeth it that these different Professours of them I meane the Catholikes and the Protestants cannot make One and the same Church And to come to this point though such disparity of fayth hath beene proued to be eueÌ„ among the Protestants themselues aboue in this Treatise But if one Protestant thinke another Protestant to be for his supposed false fayth no member of Christs Church but an Heretike then with much more reason we may pronounce the same betweene the Catholike and the Protestant Now this poynt taketh its more euident demonstration of proofe from this one consideration to wit that the Catholike and the Protestant doe not belieue one the same Creed If then they both do not belieue one and the same Creed and yet the Creed is but an abstract or Compendium of the true fayth of christ can it be possibly coÌ„ceaued that the Catholicke and Protestant doe make one and the same Church But to descend to the Creed It is true that the Protestant Catholike doe in words recite one and the same Creed but seeing it is the intended sense of the holy Ghost in euery Article thereof and not the words which make the Creed it followeth that if the Catholike and Protestant doe belieue the sayd Articles of the Creed in a different or rather contrary sense that then they doe not belieue the Creed for to belieue the Creed in a false sense is not to belieue it all The Creed in this respect iustly challenging to it selfe that priuiledge which the holy Scripture doth of which S. Ierome thus writeth g S. Ierome in epist. ad Paulinâ—eâ—a Scripturae non in legendo sed in intelligendo consistunt That this they doe I wil exemplify in some Articles threof And to beginne with that first Article I belieue in God The Catholike belieues that his God no way formally cooperates with man to sin the Protestant belieues that his God (h) Beza in his display of Popish Preachers pag. â—02 Swingl tom 1 de prouident c. 6. fol. 365. Caluin Instit l. 1. c. 18. cooperateth forceth and impelleth a man to sinne as is aboue in this Treatise shewed The Catholike belieues that God wil not punish man for the not obseruing of such precepts which are not in mans power to obserue the Protestant belieues that it is not in our power to keepe the Ten Commandements and yet withall belieues that (i) D. Reynolds in his second Conclusion annexed to his Conference p. 697. God will punish man with euerlasting Torments for his not keeping of the sayd Ten Commandements Briefly the Catholike belieues that his God giues sufficient grace to all men that they may be saued The Protestants God decreeth diuers men without any respect or preuision of their workes to eternall damnation for thus Caluin writeth (k) Caluin Instit l. 3. c. â—2 See Willet Synops p. 554. affirming the same God doth ordayne by his Counsell that amoÌ„g men some be borne to eternall damnation from their nothers wombe Touching the Article of Iudging the quicke and the dead The Catholike belieues that Christ at his comming to IudgmeÌ„t will so iudge man as that his good workes receauing their force and vertue from Christs passion shal be rewarded The Protestant belieues that (l) Calu. in Antid Concil Trident. Kemnitius in Exam. Concil Trident. Christ will reward only a bare naked faith Touching that I belieue the Catholike Church The Catholike belieues this Church to be a society of men professing the present Romane fayth of which some are predestinated others reprobated The (m) Confess August art 7. Luth l. de Concil Eccles Calu. l 4. Instit Protestant belieues that his Church consisteth only of the Elect and faythfull and not of other sorts of men Touching the Article of the Communion of Saints The Catholike doth belieue such a Communion to be between the soules in heauen the soules in Purgatory and men liuing in this world as that the soules in Purgatory may be holpen by the praiers of the liuing the liuing may be holpen by the intercessioÌ„ of the Saints in heauen The Protestant denyeth (n) Brennus in Confess VVittenb c. de Purgat Calu. l. 3. Instit c. 5. sect 6. al such Communion betweene these seuerall parts of the Church Concerning the Article of forgiuenes of sinnes The Catholike belieues that actuall sinnes are forgiuen by the Sacrament of Pennance and that thereby the soule of man becommeth truly Iust in the sight of God obtayning by this meanes a true and Inherent Iustice The Protestant acknowledgeth not any Sacrament of Pennance neyther doth he acknowledge any reall and (o) Calu. l. 3. Instit c 12. Kemnit â—n Exam. Concil Trident. Inherent Iustice in man but only an imputatiue Iustice