Chap. 2. Of the sufficiencie of the Scripture 232. Chap. 3. Of the originall text of Scripture of the certainty and truth of the originals and of the authority of the vulgar translation 238. Chap. 4. Of the translating of the Scripture into vulgar languages and of the necessitie of hauing the publique liturgie and prayers of the Church in a tongue vnderstood ibid. Chap. 5. Of the three supposed different estates of meere nature grace and sinne the difference betweene a man in the state of pure and meere nature and in the state of sinne and of originall sinne 250. Chap. 6. Of the blessed virgins conception 264. Chap. 7. Of the punishment of originall sin and of Limbus puerorum 270. Chap. 8. Of the remission of originall sinne and of concupiscence remaining in the regenerate 272. Chap. 9. Of the distinction of veniall and mortall sinne 277. Chap. 10. Of free will 279. Chap. 11. Of iustification 290. Chap. 12. Of merit 324. Chap. 13. Of workes of supererogation and Counsels of perfection 331. Chap. 14. Of Election and Reprobation depending on the foresight of something in the parties elected or reiected ibid. Chap. 15. Of the seauen Sacraments 332. Chap. 16. Of the being of one body in many places at the same time ibid. Chap. 17. Of transubstantiation 333. Chap. 18. Touching orall Manducation 334. Chap. 19. Of the reall sacrificing of Christs body on the Altar as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and dead 335. Chap. 20. Of remission of sinnes after this life ibid. Chap. 21. Of Purgatory 336. Chap. 22. Of the Saints hearing of our prayers 337. Chap. 23. Of the superstition and idolatrie committed formerly in the worshipping of Images 338. Chap. 24. Of Absolution ibid. Chap. 25. Of Indulgences and Pardons 339. Chap. 26. Of the infallibility of the Popes iudgment 340. Chap. 27. Of the power of the Pope in disposing the affaires of Princes and their states ibid. The fourth Booke is of the Priuiledges of the Church CHAP. 1. OF the diuerse kindes of the priuiledges of the Church and of the different acceptions of the name of the Church 343. Chap. 2. Of the different degrees of infallibility found in the Church 344. Chap. 3. Of the meaning of certaine speaches of Caluine touching the erring of the Church 345. Chap. 4. Of their reasons who thinke the present Church free from all error in matters of faith 346. Chap. 5. Of the promises made vnto the Church how it is secured from errour of the different degrees of the obedience wee owe vnto it 348. Chap. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of faith 350. Chap. 7. Of the manifold errors of Papists touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same 351. Chap. 8. Of the last resolution of true faith and whereupon it stayeth it selfe 355. Chap. 9. Of the meaning of those words of Augustine that he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him 358. Chap. 10. Of the Papists preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture ibid. Chap. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture 359. Chap. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith 361. Chap. 13. Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith 362. Chap. 14. Of the rule of the Churches iudgment 364. Chap. 15. Of the Challenge of Papists against the rule of Scripture charging it with obscurity and imperfection 365. Chap. 16. Of the interpretation of Scripture and to whom it pertaineth 366. Chap. 17. Of the interpretation of the Fathers and how farre wee are bound to admit it 368. Chap. 18. Of the diuerse senses of Scripture 369. Chap. 19. Of the rules we are to follow and the helpes wee are to trust to in interpreting the Scriptures 372. Chap. 20. Of the supposed imperfection of Scriptures and the supply of Traditions 373. Chap. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowne from counterfeit 378. Chap. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocryphall ibid. Chap. 23. Of the Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes of Scripture 379. Chap. 24. Of the vncertainty and contrariety found amongst Papists touching books Canonicall and Apocryphall now controuersed 382. Chap. 25. Of the diuerse editions of the Scripture and in what tongue it was originally written 385. Chap. 26. Of the Translations of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke 387. Chap. 27. Of the Latin translations and of the authority of the vulgar Latine 388. Chap. 28. Of the trueth of the Hebrew Text of Scripture 390. Chap. 29 Of the supposed corruptions of the Greeke text of Scripture ibid. Chap. 30. Of the power of the Church in making Lawes 393. Chap. 31. Of the bounds within which the the power of the Church in making lawes is contained and whether shee may make lawes concerning the worship of God 394. Chap. 32. Of the nature of Lawes and how they binde 397. Chap. 33. Of the nature of Conscience and how the conscience is bound ibid. Chap. 34. Of their reasons who thinke that humane Lawes do binde the Conscience 399. The fifth booke is concerning the diuers degrees orders and callings of those men to whom the gouernment of the Church is committed CHAP. 1. OF the Primitiue and first Church of God in the house of Adam the Father of all the liuing and the gouernement of same 409. Chap. 2. Of the dignity of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Adam and their Kingly and Priestly direction of the rest 410. Chap. 3. Of the diuision of the preeminences of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Iacob when they came out of Aegypt and the Church of God became Nationall 411. Chap. 4. Of the separation of Aaron and his sonnes from the rest of the sonnes of Leui to serue in the Priests office and of the head or chiefe of that company 412. Chap. 5. Of the Priests of the second ranke or order 413. Chap. 6. Of the Leuites 414. Chap. 7. Of the sects and factions in religion found amongst the Iewes in latter times ibid. Chap. 8. Of Prophets and Nazarites 416. Chap. 9. Of Assemblies vpon extraordinary occasions 417. Chap. 10. Of the set Courts amongst the Iewes their authority and continuance 418. Chap. 11. Of the manifestation of God in the flesh the causes thereof and the reason why the second Person in the Trinity rather tooke flesh then either of the other 423. Chap. 12. Of the manner of the vnion that is between the Person of the Sonne of God and our nature in Christ and the similitudes brought to expresse the same 429. Chap. 13. Of the communication of the properties of eyther nature in Christ consequent vpon the vnion of them in his Person
and the two first kindes thereof 432. Chap. 14. Of the third kind of communication of properties and the first degree thereof 434. Chap. 15. Of the third kind of communication of properties and the second degree thereof 438. Chap. 16. Of the worke of Mediation performed by Christ in our nature 441. Chap. 17. Of the things which Christ suffered for vs to procure our reconciliation with God 445. Chap 18. Of the nature and quality of the passion and suffering of Christ. 450. Chap. 19. Of the descending of Christ into hell 453. Chap. 20. Of the merit of Christ of his not meriting for himselfe his meriting for vs. 464. Chap. 21. Of the benefites which we receiue from Christ. 469. Chap. 22. Of the Ministery of them to whom Christ committed the publishing of the reconciliation between God and men procured by him 471. Chap. 23. Of the Primacie of power imagined by our Aduersaries to haue beene in Peter and their defence of the same 479. Chap. 24. Of the preeminence that Peter had amongst the Apostles and the reason why Christ directed his speeches specially to him 486. Chap. 25. Of the distinction of them to whom the Apostles dying left the managing of Church-affaires and particularly of them that are to performe the meaner seruices in the Church 488. Chap. 26. Of the orders and degrees of them that are trusted with the Ministery of the word and Sacraments and the gogouernment of Gods people and particularly of Lay-elders falsely by some supposed to bee Gouernours of the Church 493. Chap. 27. Of the distinction of the power of Order and Iurisdiction and the preeminence of one amongst the Presbyters of each Church who is named a Bishop 497. Chap. 28. Of the diuision of the lesser titles and smaller Congregations or Churches out of those Churches of so large extent founded and constituted by the Apostles 501. Chap. 29. Of Chorepiscopi or Rurall Bishops forbidden by old Canons to encroach vpon the Episcopall office and of the institution necessary vse of Archpresbyters or Deanes 504. Chap. 30. Of the forme of the gouernement of the Church and the institution and authority of Metropolitanes and Patriarches 510. Chap. 31. Of Patriarches who they were and the reason why they were preferred before other Bishops 515. Chap. 32. How the Pope succeedeth Peter what of right belongeth to him and what it is that he vniustly claimeth 518. Chap. 33. Of the proofes brought by the Romanists for confirmation of the vniuersality of the Popes iurisdiction and power 521. Chap. 34. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes vniuersall iurisdiction taken out of the decretall Epistles of Popes 524. Chap. 35. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes Supremacie produced and brought out of the writinges of the Greeke Fathers 533. Chap. 36. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes Supremacie taken out of the writings of the Latine Fathers 539. Chap. 37. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes vniuersall power taken from his intermedling in ancient times in confirming deposing or restoring Bishops deposed 550. Chap. 38. Of the weakenesse of such proofes of the supreame power of Popes as are taken from their lawes Censures dispensations and the Vicegerents they had in places farre remote from them 556. Chap. 39. Of Appeales to Rome 561. Chap. 40. Of the Popes supposed exemption from all humane iudgment as beeing reserued to the iudgement of Christ onely 571. Chap. 41. Of the titles giuen to the Pope and the insufficiencie of the proofes of his illimited power and iurisdiction taken from them 582. Chap. 42. Of the second supposed priuiledge of the Romane Bishops which is infallibility of iudgement 585. Chap. 43. Of such Popes as are charged with heresie and how the Romanists seeke to cleare them from that imputation 593. Chap. 44. Of the Popes vniust claime of temporall dominion ouer the whole world 602. Chap. 45. Of the Popes vniust claime to intermedle with the affaires of Princes and their States if not as Soueraign Lord ouer all yet at least in ordine ad Spiritualia and in case of Princes failing to do their duties 609. Chap. 46. Of the examples of Church-men deposing Princes brought by the Romanists 618. Chap. 47. Of the ciuill dominion which the Popes haue by the gift of Princes 632. Chap. 48. Of generall Councels and of the end vse and necessity of them 642. Chap. 49. Of the persons that may be present in generall Councels and who they are of whom generall Councels do consist 645. Chap. 50. Of the President of generall Councels 649. Chap. 51. Of the assurance of finding out the truth which the Bishops assembled in generall Councels haue 660. Chap. 52. Of the calling of Councels and to whom that right pertaineth 667. Chap. 53. Of the power and authority exercised by the ancient Emperours in generall Councels and of the Supremacie of Christian Princes in causes and ouer persons Ecclesiasticall 677. Chap. 54. Of the calling of Ministers and the persons to whom it pertaineth to elect and ordaine them 686. Chap. 55. Of the Popes disordered intermedling with elections of Bishops and other Ministers of the Church their vsurpation intrusion and preiudicing the right and liberty of others 696. Chap. 56. Of the ordinations of Bishops and Ministers 702. Chap. 57. Of the things required in such as are to be ordained Ministers and of the lawfulnesse of their Marriage 704. Chap. 58. Of Digamie and what kind of it it is that debarreth men from entring into the Ministerie 727. Chap. 59. Of the maintenance of Ministers 733. What things are Occasionally handled in the Appendix to the fifth Booke THat Protestants admit triall by the Fathers 749. Of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead 750. 764. 776. 783. 787. 792. Whether generall Councels may erre 761. The opinion of the Greekes concerning Purgatory 764. Of Transubstantiation 770. The opinion of some of the Schoolemen thinking that finall Grace purgeth out all sinfulnesse out of the soule in the moment of dissolution 772. Of the heresie of Aerius 789. Nothing constantly resolued on concerning Purgatory in the Romane Church at Luthers appearing 790. Abuses in the Romane Church disliked by Gerson 795. Grosthead opposing the Pope 809. The agreement of diuers before Luther with that which Protestants now teach 813. Of the difference betweene the German Diuines and vs concerning the Vbiquitary presence and the Sacrament 819. The differences of former times amongst the Fathers and of the Papists at this day compared with the differences that are found amongst Protestants 823. Of the Rule whereby all controuersies are to be ended 827. That the Elect neuer fall totally from grace once receiued 833. What manner of faith is found in infants that are baptised 837. Of the saying of Augustine that hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him 841. Of the last resolution of our faith 844. 856. Of the sufficiency of the Scripture 847. Of Traditions 849. 892. Of the merit of works
afterwards when they are grown inveterate for that then they will corrupt the monuments of antiquity 8 That the whole present Church may be ignorant of some things and erre in them but that in matters necessary to bee knowne and beleeued expressely it cannot erre and that it cannot erre in any the least thing with pertinacie such and so great as is found in Heretickes Ninthly that Councels and Popes may erre in matters of greatest consequence This our opinion thus layde downe is defended by Waldensis Occam and others Waldensis saith the Church whose faith neuer faileth according to the promise made to Peter who bare the figure of the Church when Christ said I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not is not any particular Church as the Church of Africa within the bounds whereof Donatus did inclose it nor the particular Romane Church but the vniversall Church not gathered together in a generall Councell which hath sometimes erred as that at Ariminium vnder Taurus the Governour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the younger but it is the Catholique Church dispersed through the whole world from the Baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth holde and maintaine the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Iesus CHAP. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of our faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of the knowledge of the truth in thenext place wee are to speake of her office of teaching witnessing the same touching the which our adversaries fall into two dangerous errours the first that the authority of the Church is Regula fidei ratio credendi the rule of our faith the reason why we belieue The second that the Church may make new articles of faith Touching the first of these erroneous conceipts the most of them doe teach that the last thing to which the perswasion of our faith resolueth it selfe the maine ground whereupon it stayeth is the authoritie of the Church guided by the spirit of truth For say they if infidels and misbeleeuers demaund of vs why we beleeue the Trinity of persons in the Vnity of the same Divine essence the Incarnation of the Sonne of God the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come we answere because these things are contayned in the Scriptures If they proceede farther to aske why wee beleeue the Scripture we answere because it is the word of God if why wee beleeue it to bee the word of God because the Church doth so testifie of it if why we beleeue the testimony of the Church because it is guided by the spirit of truth so that that vpon which our faith settleth her perswasion touching these things is the authority of the Catholique Church ledde and guided by the spirit of truth If it be said that it is one of the things to bee beleeued that the Church is thus guided by the spirit therefore that the authority of the Church cannot be the reason cause of beleeuing all things that pertain to the Christian faith because not of those things which concerne her owne authority Stapleton who professeth to handle this matter most exactly Sometimes seemeth to say that this article of faith that the Church is guided by the spirit and appointed by God to be a faithfull mistrisse of heauenly truth is not among the Articles of faith nor in the number of things to be beleeued Which the Rhemists vpon these words The Church is the pillar and ground of truth most constantly affirme saying We must beleeue heare and obey the Church as the Touchstone Pillar and firmament of truth for all this is comprised in the principle I beleeue the holy Catholique Church Sometimes that though perhaps in that Article it be implyed that wee beleeue whatsoeuer the Church teacheth vs yet not necessarily that wee beleeue that the Church is a faithfull and infallible witnesse mistresse of trueth And sometimes as in his triplication against Whitaker he sayth that when we professe that we beleeue the holy Catholike Church we doe not onely professe to beleeue that there is such a Church in the world but that wee are members of it and doe beleeue and embrace the doctrine of it as being guided infallibly by the spirit of trueth and that wee are taught in the Articles of our faith that the Church ought to bee listned vnto as to an infallible mistresse of heauenly trueth Surely it seemeth his braine was much crased when he thus wrote saying vnsaying saying he knew not what That which he addeth that this proposition God doth reveale vnto vs his heavenly truth teach vs the mysteries of his kingdome by the ministery of his Church is a transcendent wherevpon that article wherein wee professe to beleeue the Catholike Church doth depend as all the rest do is not an Article of the Creede doth but more more shew the distemper of his head But in that which hee addeth for confirmation hereof that we do not professe in the first Article of our faith to beleeue God as the reuealer of all hidden and heauenly truth and to rest in him as in the fountaine of all illumination is the note brand of an impious miscreant For this doubtlesse is the first thing implyed in our faith towards God that we yeeld him this honour to be the great master of all trueth vpon whose authority we will depend renouncing all our owne wisedome knowing that as no man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of Got and that flesh and blood cannot reueale these things vnto vs but our father which is in heauen That the precept of louing God aboue all is not distinctly set downe among the rest of the tenne commaundements but is implyed though principally in the first yet generally in all is to no purpose If he thinke it is not at all contayned in the Decalogue his folly is too too great CHAP. 7. Of the manifold errours of Papistes touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same THus wee see hee cannot avoid it but that the Church is one of the things to be beleeued therefore cannot be the first generall cause of beleeuing all things that are to be beleeued For when we are to be perswaded of the authority of the Church it is doubtfull vnto vs and therefore cannot free vs from doubting or settle our perswasion because that which setleth the perswasion must not be doubted of There is no question then but that the authority of the old Testament may bee brought to proue the new to him that is perswaded of the old and doubteth of the newe and the authoritie of the newe to
proue the old to him that is perswaded of the new and doubteth of the old but to him that doubteth of both we must not alledge the authority of either of these but some other thing so likewise we may proue the authority of the Scripture by the Church to him that is already perswaded of the Church of the Church by the Scripture to him that is perswaded of the Scripture but to him that doubteth of both we must bring other reasons For no man proveth a thing doubtfull by that which is as much doubted of as it selfe So that to proue the authority infallibility of the Church by the testimony and authoritie of the Church which is the thing doubted of is as if one taking vpon him to be a Lawgiuer whose authority is doubted of should first make a law and publish his proclamation and by vertue there of giue himselfe power to make lawes his authority of making the first lawe being as much doubted of as the second Thus then it being cleare and euident that it is one of the things that are to bee beleeued that the Church is guided by the spirit if Stapleton be asked why he beleeueeth it to bee soe guided hee sayth hee soe beleeueth because the spirit mooueth him so to beleeue But he should knowe that three things concurre to make us beleeue that whereof we are doubtfull The light of Diuine vnderstanding as that whereby wee apprehend the things of God The spirit as the author of this illumination and the reasons and motiues by force whereof the spirit induceth mooueth and perswadeth vs. Euen as in the apprehension of things within the compasse of the light of nature when wee are to be perswaded of a thing seeming doubtfull unto vs not only the actiō of him that perswadeth vs and the light of naturall vnderstanding are required to the effecting of it but also the force of reasons winning vs to assent to that we are to be perswaded of Wee therefore demand not of Stapleton who it is that perswadeth vs to belieue or what that light of vnderstanding is that maketh him capable of such perswasion but what those reasons or motiues are by force whereof the spirit settleth his minde in the perswasion of the truth of those things he formerly doubted of Surely he sayth the highest and last reason that moueth a man to beleeu the things that partaine to faith is the authority of the Church Let vs suppose it to be so touching all other things yet can it not be so in respect of those things we are to beleeue touching the authority of the Church it selfe What is the motiue then whereby the spirit moueth vs to beleeue that the Church hath diuine authority Hee sayth because it is so contained in the Scripture and in the Articles of the Creed See then if he be not forced to runne round in a circle He beleeueth other matters of faith because contained in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and that it is the word of God because the Church deliuereth it to be so and the Church because it is ledde by the spirit and that it is ledde by the spirit because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Creede This kind of circulation Campian reckoneth amongst the Sophismes he wrongfully imputeth vnto vs but it will euer be found true that the Prophet pronounceth of the wicked Impij ambulant in circuitu The wicked runne round till they be giddie and are in the end where they were when they began Out of this maze Stapleton cannot get himselfe vnlesse hee flye to humane motiues and inducements and make them the highest and last reason of his faith and soe indeede hee doth For fearing that hee hath not sayd well in saying he beleeueth the Church is guided by the spirit because it is contained in the Scripture hee addeth another reason why hee so beleeueth because it is the generall opinion and conceipt of all Christian men that it is so guided and so indeed his perswasion stayeth it selfe vpon humane grounds though hee bee vnwilling that men should so thinke and conceiue Th◅se mazes and labyrinths other Papists seeking to avoyd runne without any such shewe of feare as Stapleton bewrayeth into most grosse absurdities some thinking that the authority of the Church is the reason moouing vs to beleeue all other things and that we beleeue that the Church is ledde and guided by the spirit and that the truth of God which the Church teacheth vs moued thereunto by humane motiues namely for that that must needes be the truth which so many miracles haue confirmed which a few weake and silly men contemptible in the eyes of the world haue wonne all the world to belieue haue holden out the defence of it against all the furies of enemies whatsoeuer which they could not haue done had not the spirit and power of the most high beene with them making them more then conquerours This is the opinion of Durandus who maketh humane motiues and inducements the highest and last reason of his faith to which also Stapleton flyeth though vnwillingly Others thinke that wee beleeue by the sole and absolute commaund of the will either finding nothing or nothing of sufficient force to perswade vs. Both these conceipts are to be examined by vs. Concerning the first wee are to obserue that the Schoolemen make two kindes of faith calling the one fidem infusam an infused faith wrought in vs by the inlightning spirit of God and staying it selfe vpon the truth of God the other fidem acquisitam a humane and naturall faith grounding it selfe vpon humane authoritie and wrought by humane motiues and perswasions So that according to the opinion of these men we beleeue the Articles of our Christian faith and whatsoeuer is contayned in the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles because wee are perswaded that they were revealed by Almighty God and this pertaineth to infused faith as they thinke but that they were reuealed there is nothing that perswadeth vs but the authority of the Church and because wee haue so learned receiued of our forefathers and this pertaineth to humane faith and is meerely a naturall and humane perswasion like that the Saracens haue touching the superstition of Mahomet who therefore beleeue them because their Auncestors haue deliuered them vnto them If this opinion were true as Melchior Canus rightly noteth the finall stay of our infused faith and the first reason moouing vs so to beleeue should not be the truth of God but humane authority For wee should beleeue the Articles of our faith because they were revealed and beleeue they were revealed because our Auncestours so deliuered vnto vs and the Church so beleeueth And from hence it would farther follow that seeing the assent yeelded to the conclusion can be no greater nor more certaine then that which is yeelded to the premisses whence it is deduced inferred
that are already wise and exercised in things that are diuine and therfore they must begin with authority Hugo de Sancto Victore maketh three sorts of beleeuers for there are sayth he qui solâ pietate credere eligunt qui vtrùm credendum sit vel non credendum ratione non comprehendunt alii ratione approbant quod fide credunt alii puritate cordis mundâ conscientiâ interius iam gustare incipiunt quod fide crediderunt The first are moued to beleeue out of piety finding the Maiesty of God to present it selfe vnto them in the word of truth and happy communion of the people professing the same challenging their attention and readinesse to bee taught by him In the second the light of diuine reason causeth approbation of that they belieue In the third sort the purity of diuine vnderstanding apprehendeth most certainely the things belieued and causeth a foretasting of those things that hereafter more fully shall be enjoied They that are thus established in the faith do now already begin to foretast that which they long in heaueÌ„ distinctly to know and enjoy and begin already to haue God present with them by force of diuine contemplation so that if all the world should be turned into miracles they could not remoue them from the certainety of their perswasion Hence it is that Pycus sayth in his Conclusions that as faith which is but a bare credulity is in degree of perfection lesse then Science soe true faith is greater and more certaine then any science gotten by demonstration Thus then we may easily discerue what is the formall reason of our faith or inducing vs to beleeue In things that are therefore belieued because knowne as in the principles conclusions of naturall knowledge the euidence of things appearing to vs is the formall reason of our beleefe and perswasion In things first belieued and afterwards known the euidence of the things appearing vnto vs being inlightned by the light of grace In things only belieued and not knowne the authority of God himselfe whom wee do most certainly discerne to speake in the worde of Faith which is preached vnto vs. Si puros oculos integros sensus illuc afferamus sayth Caluin statim occurret Dei majestas quae subactâ reclamandi audaciâ nos sibi parere cogat If we bring pure eyes and perfect senses the Majesty of God presently presenteth it selfe vnto us in the diuine Scripture and beating down al thoughts of contradicting or doubting of things so heauenly forceth vs to obey For Non dubium vim numinis illic vigere spirare sentimus quâ ad parendum scientes quidem ac volentes viuidiùs tamen efficaciùs quà m pro humana aut voluntate aut scientia trahimur ac accendimur We find a greater light of vnderstanding shining vnto vs in this doctrine of faith then is found within the compasse of nature a satisfaction touching many things in which humane reason could not satisfie vs in a joy exultation of the heart such and so great as groweth not out of nature This maketh vs assure our selues the doctrine which thus affecteth vs is reuealed from God that they are the only people of God and haue the meanes of happinesse where this treasure of heauenly wisdome is found that those bookes are the richest jewell that the world possesseth and ought to be the Canon of our faith which this people deliuereth unto vs as receiued from them to whom these things were first of all made knowne and reuealed So then that God speaketh in the Scripture and is the Author of it we know more certainely than any thing that is knowne by naturall light of reason and thereupon wee beleeue all things therein contained though many of them are such as can neuer be knowne of vs as those that are historicall and other such as are not knowne at first though after we haue belieued we begin to vnderstand and know them Herevnto agree the best learned and most deuout and religious amongst the Schoole-men For the greater part of them were giuen to curious disputes but voyd of all deuotion as Gerson complaineth Alexander of Hales sayth there is a certainty of speculation and a certainetie of experience a certainty in respect of the vnderstanding and a certainetie in respect of the affection a certainty in respect of the spirituall man and a certainety in respect of the naturall man and pronounceth that the things apprehended by vs in diuine knowledge are more certainely discerned by such as are spirituall in the certainty of experience in the certainety which is in respect of affection and by way of spirituall taste and feeling than anie thing is discerned in the light of naturall vnderstanding Quà m dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua sayth the Prophet Dauid How sweete are thy wordes O Lord vnto my mouth They are sweeter than the hony and the hony combe And again I haue knowne long since that thou hast established them for euer Thus then it is true that the authority of Gods Church prepareth vs vnto the faith and serueth as an introduction to bring vs to the discerning and perfect apprehension of diuine things but is not the ground of our faith and reason of beleeuing And that doubtlesse is the meaning of those wordes of Augustine that hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him thereunto CHAP. 9. Of the meaning of those wordes of Augustine that he would not beleeue thâ—… Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him THe Diuines giue two explications of these wordes of Augustine For Occam and some others say the Church whereof hee speaketh is not the multitude of beleeuers that now are in the World but the whole number of them that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles in which sense they confesse the Church comprehending in it the Apostles and writers of the whole Scripture of the new Testament is of greater authority then the bookes of the Gospell written by them and deliuered to posterities Others taking the name of the Church to signifie onely the beleeuers that now presently are in the world say the meaning of Augustine is that he had neuer beleeued the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church had not beene an introduction vnto him Not that his faith rested vpon it as a finall stay but that it caused him so farre to respect the word of the Gospell to listen vnto it and with a kinde of acquisite and humane faith to beleeue it that hee was thereby fitted to a better illumination by force whereof hee might more certainely know and beleeue it to be of God To which purpose Waldensis out of Thomas Aquinas obserueth that as the Samaritans beleeued that Christ was the promised Sauiour vpon the report of the woman that talked with him made vnto them but afterwardes hauing
parts of this Church and Catholiques that thinke the Pope may iudicially erre vnlesse a generall Councell concurre with him which in their opinion is an error and neare to heresie Yea the same Bellarmine sayth that the particular Romane Church that is the cleargy and people of Rome subiect to the Pope cannot erre because though some of them may yet all cannot It is true therefore which I haue deliuered not withstanding any thinge the Treatiser can say to the contrary that the Church including all the faithfull that are and haue beene since the Apostles may be sayd to bee free from error because in respect of her totall vniuersality she is so it being impossible that any errour should bee found in all her parts at all times though in respect of her seuerall parts shee be not For sometimes and in some parts she hath erred and in this sense can no more be sayd to be free from error then a man may be sayd to bee free from sicknesse that in some parts is ill affected But as a man that hath not beene alwaies nor in all parts ill may bee said to be free from perpetuall and vniuersall sicknesse so the Church is free from perpetuall and vniuersall error This the Treatiser saith is a weake priuiledge and not answerable to the great and ample promises made by Christ whereas the Fathers knew no other whatsoeuer this good man imagineth For Vincentius Lyrinensis confesseth that error may infect some parts of the Church yea that it may sometimes infect almost the whole Church so that he freeth it only from vniuersall perpetuall error But sayth the Treatiser what are poore Christians the nearer for this priuiledge how shall such a Church be the director of their faith and how shall they know what faith was preached by the Apostles what parts taught true doctrine and when and which erred in subsequent ages Surely this question is easily answered For they may know what the Apostles taught by their writings and they may know what parts of the Church teach true doctrine by comparing the doctrine each part teacheth with the written word of God and by obseruing who they are that bring in priuate and strange opinions contrary to the resolution of the rest But if happily some new contagion endeauour to commaculate the whole Church together they must looke vp into Antiquity and if in Antiquity they finde that some followed priuate and strange opinions they must carefully obserue what all not noted for singularity or heresie in diuerse places and times constantly deliuered as vndoubtedly true and receiued from such as went before them This course Vincentius Lyrinensis prescribeth But the Treatiser disclaimeth it not liking that all should be brought to the letter of holy Scripture and the workes of Antiquity which setting aside the authority of the present Church he thinketh yeeld no certaine and diuine argument So that according to his conceipt wee must rest on the bare censure and iudgement of the Pope for he is the present Church Antiquity is to be contēued as little or nothing worth Hauing iustified the distinctiō of the diuerse cōsiderations of the Church impugned by the Treatiser that which he hath touching the two assertions annexed to it will easily bee answered For the one of them is most true his addition of not erring being taken away and the other is but his idle imagination for wee neuer deliuered any such thing §. 3. IN the third place he excepteth against Mee because I say the words of the Apostle in the Epistle to Timothy touching the house and Church of God are originally vnderstood of the Church of Ephesus wherein Paul directeth Tymothy how to demeane and behaue himselfe but because I haue cleared this exception in my answere to Higgons I will say nothing to him in this place but referre him thither §. 4. FRom the Apostle the Treatiser passeth to Saint Augustine and chargeth Me th I wrest his words when he sayth he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him to a sense neuer meant by him These words of S. Augustin are vsually alleadged by the Papists to proue that the authority of the Church is the ground of our faith reason of beleeuing in answere whereunto I shew that the Diuines giue two explications of them For Ockam and some other vnderstand them not of the multitude of beleeuers that now are in the world but of the whole number of them that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and in this sense they confesse that the Church because it includeth the writers of the bookes of the new Testament is of greater authority then the books themselues Other vnderstand by the name of the Church onely the multitude of beleeuers liuing in the world at one time and thinke the meaning of Augustine is that the authority of this Church was an introduction vnto him but not the ground of his faith and principall or sole reason of beleeuing The former of these explications this graue censurer pronounceth to be friuolous First because if wee may beleeue him Saint Augustine neuer vsed these words Catholique Church after this sort in that sense Secondly because he speaketh of that Church which commanded him not to beleeue Manicheus which vndoubtedly was the present Church Thirdly because as he supposeth I can alleadge no Diuine that so interpreted the words of Augustine that which I cite out of Ockam being impertinent To euery of these reasons I will briefly answere And first that Augustine doth vse the words Catholique Church in the sense specified by Me it is euident For writing against Manicheus he hath these words Palám est quantū in re dubia ad fidem certitudinem valent Catholicae Ecclesiae authoritas quae ab ipsis fundatissimis sedibus Apostolorū vsque ad hodiernū diem succedētibus sibimet Episcopis tot populorū cōsensione firmatur that is it is apparant what great force the authority of that Church hath to settle the perswasion of faith cause certainty in things doubtfull that from the most surely established seats of the Apostles by succession of Bishops euen till this present cōsent of people is most firmely setled To the second reason wee answere that the Church including the Apostles and all faithfull ones that haue beene since comprehendeth in it the present Church and so might commaund Augustine not to listen to Manicheus So that this commaunding proueth not that he speaketh precisely of the present Church To the third I say that the Treatiser is either strangely ignorant or strangely impudent when hee affirmeth that I can alledge no Diuine that vnderstandeth the words of Augustine of the Church including in it the Apostles such as liued in their times For first Durandus vnderstandeth them of the Primitiue Church including the Apostles Secondly Gerson will tell him that when
Augustine saith he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him hee vnderstandeth by the name of the Church the Primitiue congregation of those Faithful ones which saw heard Christ and were his witnesses Thirdly Driedo writeth thus when Augustine saith hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him hee vnderstandeth that Church which hath beene euer since the beginning of the Christian Faith hauing her Bishops in orderly sort succeeding one another and growing and increasing till our times which Church truly comprehendeth in it the blessed company of the Holy Apostles who hauing seene Christ his miracles and learned from his mouth the Doctrine of Faith deliuered vnto vs the Evangelicall Scriptures And againe the same ◠Driedo saith that the authority of the Scripture is greater then the authoritie of the Church that now is in the world in it selfe considered But if wee speake of the vniversal Church including all Faithfull ones that are and haue beene the authority of the Church is in a sort greater then the Scripture and in a sort equall For explication whereof he addeth that as touching things that cannot bee seené nor knowne by vs we beleeue the sayings writings of men not as if they had in them in themselues considered a sufficient force to moue vs to beleeue but because by some reasons we are perswaded of them who deliuer such things vnto vs thinke them worthie to be beleeued So S. Augustine might rightly say hee would not beleeue the bookes of the Gospel if the authority of the Church did not moue him vnderstanding the vniuersal Church of which he speaketh against Manicheus which including the Apostles hath had in it an orderly course of succession of Bishops till our time For the faithfulnes trueth credit of this Church was more evident then the Trueth of the books of the New Testament which are therefore receiued as sacred true because written by those Apostles to whō Christ so many waies gaue testimony both by word and worke and the Scriptures are to be proued by the authority of that Church which included the Apostles but in the Church that now is or that includeth only such as are now liuing God doth not so manifest himselfe as hee formerly did so that this Church must demōstrat herself to be Orthodox by prouing her faith out of the Scripture With Driedo Ockam cōcurreth his words are these sometimes the name of the Church cōprehendeth not only the whole cōgregation of Catholiques liuing but the Faithful departed also in this sense blessed Augustine vseth the name of the Church in his book against the Manichees cited in the Decrees 2. dist c. palà m where the Catholique Church importeth the Bishops that haue succeeded one another frō the Apostles times the people subiect to thē And in the same sense Augustine vseth the name of the Church when he saith he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authoritie of the Church did not moue him for this Church comprehendeth in it the Writers of the bookes of the Gospell and all the Apostles so that from the authoritie of Augustine rightly vnderstood it cannot be inferred that the Pope the maker of the Canons is rather more to be beleeued then the Gospel yet it may be granted that wee must more rather beleeue the Church which hath beene from the times of the Prophets Apostles till now then the Gospel not for that men may any way doubt of the Gospell but because the whole is greater then the part So that the Church which is of greater authoritie then the Gospel is that whereof the Writer of the Gospel is a part Neither is it strange that the whole should bee of more authority then the parts These are the words of Ockam in the place cited by me Wherfore let the Reader judge whether that I cite out of Ockam be impertinent as the Treatiser saith or not To Durandus Gerson Driedo Ockam we may adde Waldensis who fully agrees with thē shewing at large that it pertayned to the Church onely in her first best and primitiue state age to deliuer a perfect direction touching the Canon of the Scripture so that shee hath no power or authority now to adde any more bookes to the Canon already receiued as out of her owne immediate knowledge But it sufficeth to the magnifying of her authority in her present estate that euen now no other bookes may bee receiued but such only as in her first and best estate shee proposed Farther adding that the saying of Augustine that hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him is to bee vnderstood of the Church including the primitiue Fathers and Pastors the Apostles Scholers By this which hath bin sayd it is euident as I thinke that the former of those two constructions which I make of Augustines words hath bin approued by far better men then this Treatiser And that therefore he sheweth himself more bold then wise when he pronounceth it to be frivolous And surely if we consider well the discourse of S. Augustine I thinke it may be proued vnanswerably out of the circumstances of the fame that hee speaketh not precisely of the present Church For it is that authority of the catholicke church hee vrgeth that was begun by miracles nourished by hope increased by charity confirmed strengthned by long continuance And of that Church he speaketh wherin there had bin a succession of Bishops from Peter till that present time So that he must needs meane the Church including not onely such faythfull ones as were then liuing when hee wrote but all that either then were or had bin from the Apostles times Wherefore let vs passe to the other construction of Augustines words which is that the authority of the present church was the ground reason of an acquisit fayth an introduction leading him to a more sure stay but not the reason or ground of that faith whereby principally he did beleeue This constructiō the Treatiser sayth cannot stand because Aug saith if the authority he speaketh of be weakned hee will beleeue no longer Whence it seemeth to be consequent that it was the cause of all thē perswasion of fayth that he had then when he wrote not only of an acquisit fayth preparing fitting him to a stronger more excellent farther degree or kind of faith For the clearing of this poynt we must note that there are 3. sorts of such mē as beleeue for there are some that beleeue out of piety onely not discerning by reason whether the things they beleeue be to be beleeued as true or not the 2d. haue a light of diuine reason shining in them causing an approbation of that they beleeue the 3d. sort hauing a pure heart conscience begin already inwardly to taste that which hereafter
more fully shall be enioyed Resting in the first degree as the authority of the Church moueth vs to beleeue so if it be weakned that kind degree of faith that stayeth on it falleth to the ground hauing no other sufficient stay But if we speake of fayth in respect of her two other degrees shee hath a more sure and firme ground stay to rest vpon And therefore August affirmeth that the truth clearly manifesting it selfe vnto vs is to be preferred before all those things that commend vnto vs the authority of the church that there are certaine spiritually minded men who in this life attaine to the knowledge of heauenly truth sincere wisdome without all doubt discerning it though but in part weakly in that they are men Of which number there is no question but that Aug was one so that the authority of the Church could not be the sole or principall motiue or reason at that time when hee wrote of his present perswasion of the truth of heauenly mysteries contayned in the Gospell of Christ as the Treatiser would make vs beleeue but hauing to do with the Manichees who promised the evident and cleere knowledge of trueth but fayling to performe that they promised vrged him to beleeue that which they could not make him know to bee true he professeth that if he must beleeue without discerning the truth of that he beleeueth he must rest on the authority of the catholicke church For the Manichees had no authority sufficient to moue a man to beleeue in this sort Now the Catholicke Church commanded him not to listen to Manicheus in which behalfe if they would could weaken the authority thereof he professeth hee neither can nor will beleeue any more with such a kind of faith as they vrged him to which is without all discerning of the truth of the things that are to be beleeued Thus we see the discourse of S. Augustine no way proueth that the authority of the Church was the fole or principall ground of the highest degree or kind of faith he had but it is most euident out of the same that it serued onely as an introduction to lead to a more sure perswasion then it selfe could cause §. 5. 6. THe next thing the Treatiser hath that concerneth Mee is that I acknowledge in the Church a rule of faith descending by tradition from the Apostles according to which the Scriptures are to be expounded Whereunto I briefly answere that indeede I admit such a rule so descending vnto vs but that the rule I speake of is nothing else but a summary comprehension of the chiefe heads of Christian doctrine euery part whereof is found in Scripture and from them easily to bee collected and proued deliuered vnto vs by the guides of the Church from hand to hand as from the Apostles So that my words make nothing for proofe of the papists supposed vnwritten traditions wherefore let vs passe to that which followeth which is the Sophisticall circulation which I say Papists runne into in that they beleeue that the Church is infallibly lead into all truth because it is soe contained in the Scripture and that the Scripture is the word of God because the Church infallibly led into all truth telleth them it is In this passage he sayth I wrong Stapleton in that I charge him that in his triplication against Whitaker he affirmeth other matters to be beleeued because they are contained in Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and that it is the word of God because the Church deliuereth it to be so and the Church because it is lead by the spirit and that it is lead by the spirit because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Creed For that as he saith Stapleton in the last place maketh no mention of the Scripture but of the Creed only Wherefore let vs heare Stapleton himselfe speake Whereas D. Whitaker obiecteth that Papists according to Stapletons opiniō beleeue whatsoeuer they beleeue not only by but for the Church that ingenuously he had cōfessed so much he answereth that indeed he had so professed that he euer would so professe and in another place whereas D. Whitaker saith Papistes beleeue the Church because God commaundeth them to do soe and that God doth so commaund them because the Church whose authority is sacred telleth them so he answereth that they doe not beleeue that God commaundeth them to beleeue the Church either properly or onely because the Church telleth them soe but partly because of the most manifest authorities of Scriptures sending men to the Church to bee taught by it partly moued so to doe by the Creede of the Apostles wherein we professe that wee beleeue the Catholique Church that is not only that there is such a Church but that we are members of it and that God doth teach vs by it Is here noe mention of the Scripture but of the Creed onely Doubtlesse the Treatiser hath a very hard fore-head for otherwise he could not but blush and acknowledge that hee wrongeth Mee and not I Stapleton But to make good that which I haue written that Papists either fall into a Sophisticall circulation or resolue the perswasion of their faith finally into humane motiues and inducements first it is to be obserued that noe man perswadeth himselfe of the truth of any thing but because it is euident unto him in it selfe to be as he perswadeth himselfe either in abstractiue knowledge or intuitiue intellectuall or experimentall or of affection or else because it is soe deliuered to bee by some such as hee is well perswaded of both in respect of their vnderstanding discerning aright and will to deliuer nothing but that they apprehend to be true In the former kind the inducement motiue or formall cause of mens assent to such propositions as they assent vnto is the euidence of them in themselues which either they haue originally as the first principles or by necessary deduction from things so euident as conclusions thence inferred In the latter the authority and credit of the reporter The former kind of assent is named assensus euidens the latter ineuidens of which latter sort faith is which is named a firme assent without euidence because many of the things which we are to beleeue are not nor cannot be euident vnto vs originally in themselues as the first principles of humane knowledge nor by deduction from and out of things so evident in such sort as conclusions in sciences are Yet is not this assent without all evidence For though the things beleeued be not euident in themselues yet the medium by vertue whereof we beleeue them must be evident the proofe of them by vertue of that medium Now the medium by vertue whereof we beleeue things no way evident vnto vs in themselues can be nothing else but the report of another neither is euery report of another a sufficient medium
or inducement to make vs beleeue things we know not but it must be the report of such an one as we know cannot be deceiued nor will not deceiue It must therefore be evident to euery one that firmely and without doubting beleeueth things not knowne vnto him vpon the report of another that he that reporteth them vnto him neither is deceiued nor can deceiue Whence it followeth necessarily that things are as he reporteth These things presupposed I demaund of this Treatiser whether he and his consorts assent to the Articles of the Christian Faith induced so to doe by the evidence of the things in thēselues or by the report of another That they assent not vnto thē induced so to do by the evidence of the things in thēselues they all professe but by the report of another I demand therefore who that other is whether God or man if man then haue they nothing but anhumane perswasion very weakly grounded wherein they may be deceiued for euery man is a lyar If God let them tel me whether it be evident in it self that God deliuereth these things vnto thē pronounceth them to be as they beleeue or not If not but beleeued only then as before by reasō of authority that either of God or man Not of God for it is not evident in it self that God deliuereth any thing vnto thē not of men for their report is not of such credit asthat we may certainly vndoubtedly stay vpon it seeing they may be deceiued deceiue other They answere therefore that it is no way evident vnto them in it selfe that God deliuereth the things they beleeue but that they perswade themselues hee deliuered such things vpōthe report of men but such men as are infallibly led into all truth See then if they doe not runne round in a circle finding no stay They beleeue the resurrection of the dead and the like things because God revealed it they beleeue that God revealed it because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the Word of God and that it is the Word of God because the Church so delivereth and the Church because it is a multitude of men infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church infallibly led into all truth because it is so contained in Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and so round without euer finding any end Out of this circle they cannot get vnles they either groūd their Faith vpon the meere report of men as men humane probabilities or confesse that it is evident vnto them in it selfe that God speaketh in the Scripture and revealeth those things which they beleeue which if they doe it must bee in respect either of the manner matter there vttered or consequent effects In respect of the manner there being a certaine diuine vertue force and majesty in the very forme of the words of him that speaketh in the Scripture in respect of the matter which being suggested and proposed to vs findeth approbation of reason inlightned by the light of grace in respect of the consequent effects in that we finde a strange and wonderful change wrought in vs assuring vs the doctrine is of God that hath such effects which is that we say which they condemne in vs. The Treatiser would make vs beleeue that there are two opinions amongst them touching this point whereof the one is as he telleth vs that wee beleeue the Church because the Scripture teacheth vs that shee is to be beleeued the Scripture because the Church deliuereth it to vs to be the word of God And the other that by the assistance of God together with the concurrence of our naturall vnderstanding we produce an act of supernaturall Faith by which wee firmely beleeue the Articles of Christian Faith not for any humane inducements but for that they are revealed by Almighty God without seeking any further which if it be so it must be evident in it self to thē that follow this opiniō that God hath revealed deliuered the things they beleeue that by one of the 3 waies before mētioned thē they fal into our opiniō for if it be not evidēt to thē in it self that God speakes in the scriptures reveales the things they are to beleeue they must go further to be assured that he doth so speake and reueale the things that are to bee beleeued either to proofe of reason or authority For no man perswadeth himselfe of any thing but vpon some inducements Proofe of reason demonstratiue I thinke they will not seeke and probable inducements they may not rest in therefore they must proceede to some proofeby authority which can bee no other but that of the Church and then they ioyne with them that follow the other opinion and beleeue the articles of Christian faith conteyned in Scripture because God hath reuealed them and that God hath reuealed them because the Church telleth them so and the Church because the Scripture testifieth of it that it is led into all trueth which is a very grosse sophisticall circulation This the Treatiser did well perceiue and therefore to helpe the matter he distinguisheth the cause of beleeuing and the condition necessarily requisite that the cause may haue her working in shew making the Diuine Reuelation the reason or cause that we beleeue and the Churches proposing to vs the things to be beleeued a condition only and not a cause in sort as the fire alone is the cause of the burning of the wood but the putting of one of them to another is a necessary condition without which that cause can produce no such effect but this shift will not serue the turne For it is the fire onely that burneth the wood though it cannot burne vnlesse it be put vnto it so that in like sort if the comparison hold the Diuine Reuelation must of and by it selfe alone moue induce and incline vs to beleeue the things proposed by the Church as being euident vnto vs to be a Deuine Reuelation though without the Churches proposing we could take no notice of it Euen as in naturall knowledge it is the euidence of trueth appearing vnto vs originally found in the first principles and secondarily in the conclusions from thence deduced that is the sole and onely cause or reason of our assent to such principles and conclusions though without the helpe of some men of knowledge proposing them to vs and leading vs from the apprehension of one of them to another happily we should not at all attaine such knowledge But this euidence of the Diuine Reuelation in it selfe the Treatiser will not admit For it is no way euident in it selfe to him that God hath reuealed any of the things he beleeueth but the onely proofe besides humane motiues or reasons which are too weake to bee the ground of Fayth that he hath is the authority of the Church So that the Ministery of the Church is
done by euery one Wherevnto we answere according to their owne groundes that those partes of divine and canonicall Scripture which particularly wee haue not read or considered are onely implicitè and vertually beleeued of vs as likewise the thinges that are contayned in them neither should this seeme strange to the Romanists for they thinke it pertayneth to the faith of each Christian man to beleeue all the bookes of holy Scripture to bee vndoubtedly true and indited by the Spirit of God Yet are there many amongst them that neyther know how many nor which these bookes are but beleeue them vertually onely as it appertayneth to the fayth to beleeue that Iesus Mary Ioseph fledde into Aegypt and that Paul mediated for the reconciling of Onesimus to Philemon but it is sufficient for men that neuer read or considered these particulars to beleeue them vertually Thirdly he chargeth vs with contrariety in our sayings in that we make the Scripture to bee the ground and rule of our fayth and yet make the light of faith a meane whereby we come to the knowledge of Scripture because as hee thinketh the Scripture cannot bee a rule of our fayth vnlesse it bee certainely knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue But the good man should knowe that the Scripture may bee the rule of our fayth directing vs touching such particular things as wee are to beleeue though it be not knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue For first God giueth vs the eyes of fayth and openeth our vnderstandings that wee may see and discerne in generall heauenly trueth to bee contayned in Scripture then it becommeth a rule of direction in all particular poynts of faith Fourthly he imputeth to vs that wee relie vpon illuminations and inspirations in the things wee beleeue as if wee beleeued them without any other proofe or demonstration vpon bare imagined inspirations whereas wee beleeue nothing without such proofes and motiues as all men may take notice of and yet knowe right well that none doe make right vse thereof but such as haue their vnderstandings enlightned So that his reasoning against the certainty of this illumination is idle seeing we doe not make illumination or inspiration the ground of our perswasion touching things to be beleeved but a disposition of the mind making vs capable of the apprehension of thinges that are diuine and heauenly This illumination is in some more and in some lesse but in all the chosen seruants of God such as sufficeth for the discerning of all sauing trueth necessary to bee knowne of each man according to his estate and condition Fiftly besides idle repetition of thinges going before to which hee referreth himself and some vntruths mingled with the same First he chargeth Me that I am contrary to my selfe in deliuering the opinions of Papists The first supposed contradiction is in that I affirme that it is the ordinary opinion of Papists that the articles of faith are beleeued because God reuealeth them and yet say in another place that they make the authority of the Church the rule of our fayth and reason why we beleeue The second in that I charge the Papistes in one place that they giue authority to the Church to make new articles of faith and in another place free them from the same This latter supposed contrariety I shewed before to bee none at all but in the Treatisers imagination onely and touching the first if hee were a man of any common vnderstanding or knew what contrariety is hee vvould not charge Mee with any such thing For it is true that all Papists thinke the articles of faith are to be beleeued because reuealed but they thinke also that wee knowe not that they are reuealed but beleeue so onely and that not by reason of any diuine reuelation testimony or authority but because the Church so telleth vs and wee haue many humane inducements mouing vs so to perswade our selues So that they make the authority of the Church and humane inducements the last and finall reason of beleeuing whatsoeuer they beleeue This the Treatiser knew well enough and therefore hee requireth Mee to shew how I know that God reuealeth the things beleeued by Christians If I will not fall into the same fault for which I blame them Whereunto I answere that I know the Scriptures to bee inspired of God by the diuine force and majesty that sheweth it selfe in them in which sence I say the bookes of Scripture win credit of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to all men of their diuine truth For as the colour in each thing maketh it visible and to be seene so the diuine power vertue that sheweth it selfe in the Scripture maketh vs to beleeue that it is of God But the Treatiser will not thus leaue Mee but still goeth on adding one vniust imputation to another For whereas we say only the Scriptures are not discerned to be diuine and inspired of God vnlesse we be inlightned by grace and not that they are proued to bee diuine by the certaintie of that illumination he maketh vs whether we wil or not to proue the Scriptures by our inspirations and that we are inspired by the Scriptures whereas we proue neither the one nor the other of these things in any such sort For touching the Scripture I haue sufficiently shewed before how we know it to be diuine and for the other the Treatiser should know that we doe not proue by Scripture that we are divinely inlightned and inspired but that as naturall reason hath a direct act whereby she apprehendeth things without a reflexed act whereby taking a view of the former direct acts she findeth out her selfe so the light of Faith first discouereth Heauenly verities in the Scripture such as naturall reason could neuer find out then by reflexion findeth it selfe to be of another nature kind then that rationall vnderstanding that was before Wherefore let vs goe forward Did not mine eyes see and my hands handle the palpable absurdities of this Treatiser I would not beleeue any mans report that one so voide of all sense reason as he euery way sheweth himselfe to be should be permitted to write For whereas I bring a most cleare sentence out of Augustine to proue that howsoeuer the authoritie of the Church serue as an introduction to bring vs to the spirituall discerning of diuine things yet men rest not in it hee answereth that Augustine in the chapter cited by Me affirmeth onely that because all men are not capable at first to vnderstād the sincere wisdome truth taught in the church God hath ordained in it a motiue which may first moue them to seeke it to wit the authority of the Church which partly through miracles partly through multitudes is of force to moue which no way taketh any thing from but rather addeth strength to my proofes for if these motiues be necessary onely at the first before men bee purged made pure in
people that adhered to the Catholique verity who haue power to choose their Pastour to admitte the worthy and refuse the vnworthy did forsake the former that were wolues and not Pastours and submitted themselues to those of a better spirit Of the three first kindes of voidance there can bee no question of this fourth there may and therefore I will proue it by sufficient authoritie and strength of reason Cyprian Cecilius Polycarpus and other Bishoppes writing to the Cleargie and people of the Churches in Spaine whereof Basilides and Martialis were Bishoppes who fell in time of persecution denyed the fayth defiled themselues with Idolatry perswade them to separate themselues from those Bishoppes assuring them that the people beeing holy religious fearing God and obeying his lawes may and ought to separate themselues from impious and wicked Bishoppes and not to communicate with them in the matters of Gods service quando ipsa plebs maximè habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi that is seeing the people hath authority to choose the worthy and to refuse the vnworthy And Occam to the same purpose sayth on this sorte Si Papa maximè celebres episcopi incidant in haeresin ad Catholicos deuoluta est potestas omnis iudicandi If the Pope the principall Bishoppes of the Christian world doe fall into heresie the power of all Ecclesiasticall iudgement is deuolued to the inferiour Cleargie and people remaining Catholique This opinion of Cyprian and the rest if our aduersaries shall dislike or except against may easily be confirmed by demonstration of reason For if it do fall out that the Bishoppes and a great part of the people fall into errour heresie and superstition I thinke our aduersaries will not deny but that the rest are bound to maintaine and vphold the auncient veritie who being not so many nor so mighty as to bee able to eiect those wicked ones by a formall course of iudiciall proceeding what other thing is there left vnto them but either to consent to their impieties which they may not doe or to seperate themselues which is the thing our aduersaries except against in the people of our time Now hauing separated themselues from their former supposed and pretended Pastours what remaineth but that they make choise of new to bee ordained and set ouer them if not by the concurrence of such and so many as the strictnesse of the Canon doth ordinarily require to concurre in ordinations yet by such as in cases of necessity by all rules of equity are warranted to performe the same CHAP. 40. Of Succession and the proofe of the trueth of their doctrine by it THus hauing examined the allegation of the Papists endeuouring to prooue against vs that wee haue not the true Church amongst vs because as they falsely suppose wee lacke the visible Succession of Pastours and Bishops let vs see what they can conclude from this note of Succession for themselues In this part Bellarmine sheweth himselfe to be a notable trifler For first hee sayth that if there bee no Church where there is no succession then where there is succession continued the true Church doth remaine still Secondly being pressed with the example of the Graecians amongst whom a continuall succession of Bishops hath euer beene found hee answereth that succession doth not proue affirmatiuely that to bee the true Church where it is found but negatiuely that not to bee the true Church where it is wanting contrary to himselfe who requireth in the notes of the Church amongst which he reckoneth succession to be one of the prinpall that they be not only inseparable without which the true Church cannot bee but proper also and such as cannot be found in any other society but that which is the true Church of God Thirdly againe forgetting himselfe hee maketh succession proper to the true Church and such a note as may proue all those societies of Christians true Churches which haue it disliketh Calvin for saying that more is required to finde out the true Church than personall succession and that the Fathers did not demonstrate the Church barely by personall succession but by shewing that they that succeeded held the faith of those that went before them Thus he sheweth plainely that he knoweth not what he writeth This matter of succession Stapleton hath much more aptly delivered than Bellarmine confessing that not bare and personall succession but lawfull succession is a note of the true Church And defineth that to be lawfull succession when not only the latter succeede into the voide roomes of those that went before them being lawfully called therevnto but also hold the faith their predecessours did In this sort the Fathers were wont to reason from succession in the controuersies of Religion First they reckoned vp the successions of Bishops from the Apostles times then shewed that none of them taught any such thing as was then called in question but the contrary and consequently that the Apostles deliuered no such thing but the contrary To Bellarmines disiunction that either the Fathers made it appeare to Catholickes or to Heretickes that the succeeding Bishops held the same faith the former did we answere They made it appeare to both For so doth Irenaeus proue the tradition of the Apostles to be for him and against the Heretickes he refuteth because he can number all the Bishops in the principall Churches from the Apostles times downeward none of which euer taught any such thing as those heretiques dreamed but the contrary That which Bellarmine addeth that if it had appeared to heretiques that the true faith had beene kept by succeeding Bishops they would haue yeelded to it is as little to the purpose as the rest For we do not say it did apeare vnto them they held the truth but that they held the same faith their predecessours held Now though the Fathers made this appeare vnto them yet they feared not to oppose themselues as the same Irenaeus witnesseth affirming that when it was prooued against the heretiques of those times that in the succession of Bishoppes those that succeeded held the same faith the former did without any alteration and consequently the Apostles doctrine was still continued in their Churches they thought themselues wiser then the Apostles thēselues affirming that they mingled the Law and the Gospell together taking exceptions of ignorance and imperfection against them and their doctrine Thus then wee see the Fathers did not reason barely from personall sucession but by shewing affirmatiuely the faith they defended to haue beene receiued by all those Bishops whose succession they vrged against their aduersaries and negatiuely by proouing that none of them euer beleeued any such things as their adversaries dreamed If the Romanists wil dispute against vs in this sort and demonstrate that the Fathers successiuely held those opinions they do and that none of them were of that iudgment in matter of faith that
hee beleeueth whatsoeuer the judgement of the Pope bee And yet the same men which thus teach doe say it is no matter of faith to acknowledge or not to acknowledge the infallibility of the Popes judgement and that a man may bee a true Catholicke that thinketh the Pope may erre These two assertions are directly contradictorie The first they embrace because they find the authoritie Papall to be the surest stay of all their false faith and Antichristian profession and the second they are forced vnto because they dare not condemne so many famous renowned and great Divines as haue beene of that opinion as Durandus Gerson Cameracensis Almaine Waldensis and innumerable moe By this their contradicting of themselues not yet knowing whereon to ground their faith it is evident they haue no faith at all Secondly if wee should graunt them to haue any faith yet will it bee found to be Sophisticall or meerely humane For the reason ground and cause of their perswasion touching things Divine is the testimony of the Church infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church thus ledde into all trueth whose testimony is vndoubtedly certaine and true they beleeue because the Church telleth them so as if a man should beleeue the reports of such a man because he is wise faithfull and honest and beleeue him to be so onely because he saith so To avoide this Sophisticall circulation sundry of the Schoolemen doe freely confesse that the ground of their faith is nothing else but the multitude and consent of men nations and people agreeing in the profession of it and consequently that it is meerely an humane perswasion and that they haue no faith at all which alwayes stayeth it selfe vpon the certainty of the first trueth Thirdly they teach that mortall men are neuer bound to giue GOD thankes for the greatest benefite that is bestowed on them in this world Nay that to giue him thankes for it were grievous sinne This is most evident for the greatest benefite of all other is justification but for this no man may giue God thankes because no man knoweth whether hee hath receiued it or not nor can assure himselfe of it without intollerable and inexcusable presumption Nay some of these seducers are not ashamed to write that euery man is bound to doubt of it with so fearefull doubting as may cause trembling applying that place of the Apostle to that purpose Worke out your saluation with feare and trembling Now I thinke hee which should come to God and giue him thankes for that which whether hee hath receiued or not hee is so doubtfull that he trembleth for feare should but mocke God and mistake his owne meaning Fourthly they hold that Paul and so many more as knew certainely they were in state of justification did sinne damnably in saying the Lords Prayer and that they did as foolishly as if a man should come to God and aske of him the creation of the world which was made long agoe CHAP. 46. Of the efficacie of the Churches doctrine THus were it most easie for vs to shew in many other particulars that the course of their doctrine is full of palpable absurdities But let these few instances suffice and let vs passe from the sanctity of the Churches doctrine to that the Iesuite addeth touching the efficacy of it where he affirmeth two things the first that heretickes neuer conuert any from infidelity to the faith the second that the Church of Rome hath conuerted This which the Iesuite so confidently deliuereth is partly false and partly to no purpose at all For whereas hee sayth heretickes neuer convert any from infidelity to Christianity the conuersion of the Moscouites by the Greeke Church at that time when it was in his iudgment hereticall and schismaticall abundantly refuteth him besides some other examples that might be alleadged Touching the other part of his speech that the Church of Rome hath conuerted many nations to the faith it maketh nothing to the purpose For wee haue already shewed that wee doubt not but the Church in which the Bishop of Rome with more than Lucifer-like pride exalted himselfe was notwithstanding the true Church of God that it held a sauing profession of the trueth in Christ and by force thereof did conuert many from errour to the way of trueth yet was not the state of that Church such but that a damnable faction of wicked ones was found in the midst of it who being the vassals of that cursed Antichrist adulterated the trueth of God and brought his people into a miserable estate holding men in worse then Babylonical captiuity These men the Romanists succeed at this day For the clearing of this matter see that which I haue noted before to this purpose CHAP. 47 Of the Protestants pretended confession that the Romane Church is the true Church of God THe next note whereby Bellarmine endeuoureth to proue the Romish Synagogue to be the true Church of God is our owne confession Surely if he can proue that we confesse it to be the true Church he needeth not vse any other arguments Let vs see therefore how hee proueth that we confesse the Romane Church to be the true Church of God Luther sayth he clearely yeeldeth it Caluin and others in effect acknowledge the same This wee deny for neither Luther nor Calvin nor any of vs doe acknowledge that the Popish religion is true religion or the Romish faction the Orthodoxe Church of God It is true indeede that Luther writing against the Anabaptists doth affirme that the life of true Christianity was preserued in the middest of those Churches wherein the Pope did formerly tyrannize which thing we haue more fully cleared before But that any part of that doctrine the reformed Churches haue reiected was to be accounted the doctrine of the Church or that those wicked ones in whose steppes the Romanists at this day doe insist peruerting the strait wayes of God and adulterating his heauenly trueth were liuely members of the Church Luther did neuer so much as dreame That which is alleadged out of Caluin touching Bernard and other holy men liuing dying in the Romane Church is to no purpose For we neuer doubted but that the Churches wherein those holy men did liue and die were the true Churches of God and held the sauing profession of heavenly trueth though there were innumerable in the middest of them that adulterated the same to their endlesse perdition whose successours the Romanists are at this day There is therefore a great difference to be made betweene the Church wherein our Fathers formerly liued and that faction of the Popes adherents which at this day resist against the necessary reformation of the Churches of God and make that their faith and religion which in former times was but the priuate and vnresolued opinion of some certaine onely In former times a man might hold the generall doctrine of those Churches wherein our Fathers liued and be
seene him and talked with him they professed that they beleeved not for her saying any longer for themselues had heard him speake and did know that hee was the Saviour of the world indeed So men at the first beginne to beleeue moued so to doe by the authority of the Church but rest not in it but in the infallible assurance of diuine trueth Vpon the mistaking of this saying of S. Augustine and an erroneous conceit that our faith stayeth wholly vpon the authority and testimony of the Church hath growne that opinion that the authority of the Church is greater than the authority of the Scriptures CHAP. 10. Of the Papistes preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture TOuching which odious comparison I find some shew of difference amongst the Papistes but none indeede Some affirme that the authorities of the Church and of the Scripture being in divers kindes may in diverse sorts and respects either of them be sayd to be greater then the other to wit the one in nature of an euidence the other of a Iudge and that therefore the comparing of them in authority is vnfit and superfluous Others say that the Church is greater then Scriptures The Rhemists seeme to be of the first sort seeking to conceale that which indeede they thinke because they would not incurre the dislike and ill opinion of men naturally abhorring from so odious a comparison Yet in the same place they doe make the comparison and preferre the Church before the Scriptures 1. In respect of antiquity in that it was before them 2. In excellencie of nature in that the Church is the spouse of Christ the Temple of God the proper subject of God and his graces for which the Scriptures were and not the Church for the Scriptures 3. In power of judging of doubts and controversies the Church hauing judiciall power the Scripture not being capable of it 4. In euidence the definition of the Church being more cleare and evident then those of the Scriptures Stapleton sayth the comparison may be made and the Church preferred before the Scriptures foure wayes 1. So as if the Church might define contrary to the Scriptures as shee may contrary to the writings of particular men how great soeuer In this sense they of the Church of Rome make not the comparison neither doe we charge them with any such thing though Stapleton be pleased to say so of vs. 2. So as the Church may define though not contrary to yet beside the Scripture or written Word of God This comparison is not made properly touching the preheminence of one aboue another in authority but the extent of one beyond the other as Stapleton rightly noteth In this sense the Romanists make the Church greater in authority than the Scriptures that is the extent of the Churches authority larger than of the Scriptures to bring in their traditions but this wee deny and will in due place improue their errour herein Thirdly in the obedience they both challenge of vs where they all say that we are bound with as great affection of piety to obey and submit our selues vnto the determinations of the Church as of the Scriptures both being infallible of diuine and heauenly authority against which no man may resist and that it is a matter of faith so to thinke Yea some of them as Stapleton in the same place are not ashamed to say that wee are bound with greater certaintie of faith to subscribe vnto the determinations of the Church than of the Scriptures and that it is the authority of the Church that maketh vs accept embrace and beleeue the Scriptures Fourthly in the nature of the things themselues in which respect they preferre the Church before the Scriptures as being in it selfe more excellent then the Scriptures as the subject by which the spirit worketh is more excellent then the thing hee worketh by it CHAP. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture THat wee may the better discerne what is to bee resolued touching these two latter comparisons betweene the Church and the Scriptures wee must remember that which I haue before noted touching them both For first the name of the Church sometimes comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that now presently are liuing in the world Sometimes not onely these but all them also that haue beene since the Apostles times Sometimes all that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh If the comparison bee made betweene the Church consisting onely of the faithfull that now are and the Scripture wee absolutely deny the equality of their authority and say it is impiety to thinke that both may challenge an equall degree of obedience and faith to bee yeelded to them for it cannot bee proued that the Church thus taken is free from errour nay themselues with one consent confesse that generall Councels representing this Church may erre though not in matters of substance which they purposely meete to determine yet in other passages and in the reasons and motiues leading to such determinations and consequently the whole Church may erre in the same things the one in their opinion being no more infallible than the other Yea some of them feare not to pronounce that Popes and generall Councells may erre damnably and that the Church itselfe may erre in matters not fundamentall though without pertinacy as Picus in his theoremes and Waldensis who freeth only the vniuersall Church consisting of the faithfull that are and haue beene from errour and not the present Church as I shewed before We are so farre then from preferring the Church thus taken as Stapleton in the place aboue mentioned professeth he taketh it in authority before the Scripture that we thinke it impiety to imagine it to be equall That the authority of the Church maketh vs to beleeue with an humane and acquisite faith we deny not but that it maketh vs to beleeue with a diuine faith we deny as before If the comparison be made between the Church consisting of all the faithfull that haue bin since besides the Apostles writers of the holy Scriptures though we think the Church thus taken to be free from any error yet dare we not make it equall to the Scripture For that the Scripture is infallibly true as inspired immediatly frō the spirit of truth securing the writers of it from errour The Church not in respect of the condition of the men of whom it consisteth or the manner of the guiding of the spirit each particular man being subject vnto errour but in respect of the generality and vniversality of it in euery part whereof in every time no errour could possibly be found And for that whatsoeuer is vniuersally deliuered by it is thereby prooued to be from the Apostles of whose faith wee are secure Thus then the whole Church thus taken is subiect to the Scripture in all her parts and hath her infallibility from it and therefore in her
manner of hauing the truth is inferiour vnto it neither are we bound to receiue her doctrines as the sacred Scriptures Besides though the Church taken in this sort be free from errour yet not from ignorance of many things wherein we may be instructed by the scripture So that it is possible for a man to vnderstand the naturall literall sense of some parts of Scripture and from thence some things that were not in such sort knowne and deliuered by any that went before as Andradius and Caietanus do proue at large If the comparison be made betweene the Church consisting of all the belieuers that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and their blessed assistants the Euangelists we deny not but that the Church is of greater authority antiquity and excellencie than the Scripture of the new Testament as the witnesse is better then his testimonie and the Lawgiuer greater then the Lawes made by him as Stapleton alleageth But he is to proue the present Church greater in authority than the Scripture which hee vndertaketh but performeth not His reason that the Scripture was giuen for the good of the Church and that therefore the Church is better than the Scripture proueth not the thing intended For as the people are more excellent in degree of being and nature of things than the lawes that be made for their good yet are the lawes of more authority and must ouer-rule and direct the people so though the Scriptures being but significations declarations and manifestations of diuine truth be not better in degree of things than the Church yet in power of prescribing directing and ouer-ruling our faith they are incomparably greater That which the Rhemists adde to shew the greatnesse of the Church aboue the Scripture because the Church hath judiciall power to determine doubts and controuersies whereof as they suppose the Scripture is not capable I will examine in the next part when I come to speake of the power of judging which the Church hath This errour of the Romanists imagining the authority of the Church to bee greater than the Scripture all the best learned in the Church of Rome euer resisted as Waldensis Occam Gerson and sundry others CHAP. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith VNto this errour is joyned and out of this hath growne another not vnlike that the Church may make new articles of faith which though Stapleton and some other of our time seeme to disclaime yet do they indeede fall into it For the better vnderstanding whereof we must obserue as Occam fitly noteth that an Article of faith is sometimes strictly taken onely for one of those diuine verities which are contained in the creede of the Apostles sometimes generally for any Catholike verity This question is not meant of articles of faith in the first sense but in the second and so the meaning of the question is whether the Church that now is may by her approbation make those assertions and propositions to be Catholike verities that were not before or those hereticall that were not A Catholike vetity is a diuine truth which euery Christian is bound to beleeue The things which Christian men are bound to beleeue are of two sorts and consequently there are two sorts of Catholike verities to wit some so neerely touching the matter of eternall saluation that a man cannot be saued vnlesse hee expressely knowe and beleeue them others farther remooued which if a man beleeue implicitè and in praeparatione animi it sufficeth These must bee beleeued expressely and distinctly if their coherence with or dependance on the former do appeare vnto vs so that the manifest deduction of them from the former will make them such as must be expressely beleeued Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholike truth that was not so before but they thinke that the Church by her bare and sole determination may make that verity to be in such sort Catholike that euery one vnderstanding of such determination must expressely beleeue it that was not so and in such degree Catholike before But wee thinke that it is not the authority of the Church but the cleare deduction from the things which we are bound expressely to beleeue that maketh things of that sort that they must be particularly and distinctly known beleeued that were not necessarily so to bee beleeued before and therefore before and without such determination men seeing cleerely the deduction of things of this nature from the former and refusing to beleeue them are condemned of hereticall pertinacy and men not seeing that deduction after the decree of a Councell hath passed vpon them may still doubt and refuse to beleeue without hereticall pertinacy We cannot therefore condemne the Grecians as heretickes as the Romanists doe because wee cannot perswade our selues of them generally that they see that which they deny touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost deduced from the indubitate principles of our Christian faith or that they impiously neglect the search of the trueth What is it then will some men say that the decree of a Councell doth effect Surely nothing else but the rejecting of such as are otherwise minded from the societies of those men and Churches with whom the decree of the Councell doth prevaile and with all wise men the more wary and fearefull pronouncing any thing of those matters concerning which so graue authority hath passed her sentence The Papists proceed further and thinke it hereticall pertinacie to gainsay the decrees of a Councell though they finde the reasons by which they of the Councell were mooued so to thinke and determine to bee too weake and not to conclude the thing intended as in the matter of Transubstantiation they thinke it heresie to gainesay the decrees of those Councels that haue defined it and yet many of them judge all the reasons alleaged to proue it too weake to proue it In deed if it were certaine as they suppose that a generall Councell could not erre this were a sufficient deduction These things are decreede in a generall Councell Therefore ture because it is consequent that that is true which is affirmed by him that cannot erre Thus wee see what it is to bee thought touching this question whether the Church may make new Articles of faith onely one thing must be added for the further clearing hereof The Papistes thinke that the Church may adde to the Canon of the Scripture bookes not yet admitted as the bookes of Hermas the Scholler of Paul intituled Pastor and the constitutions of Clement which if it should doe we were to receiue them with no lesse respect then the Epistle of Iames and other bookes of the New Testament This we thinke to be a most grosse heresie and contrrry to their owne principles who making the number
of Canonicall bookes a tradition must necessarily receiue it from a certaine and constant report of the ancient But hereof no more in this place because the exact handling of it pertaineth to another place to wit touching the Scriptures CHAP. 13 Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of diuine truth and her office of teaching testifying and proposing the same the next thing that followeth is her authority to judge of the differences that may arise touching matters of the faith taught by her or any part thereof and more specially touching the interpretation of the Scriptures and word of God Iudgement is an acte of reason discerning whether a thing be or not and whether it be that it seemeth to be and is thought or said to be This judgment is of two sortes The first of definitiue and authenticall power The second of Recognition The judgement of authenticall power defining what is to bee thought of each thing and prescribing to mens consciences so to thinke is proper to God being originally found in the father who by his sonne as by the immediate and prime messenger and Angell of his secret Counsell and by the holy Ghost as the spirit of illumination maketh knowne vnto men what they must thinke and perswadeth them so to thinke So that the supreame judgement wherein the conscience of men doeth rest in the things of GOD is proper to GOD who onely by his spirit teacheth the conscience and giueth vnto it assurance of truth Neither is God the supreme Iudge onely inrespect of the godly who stay not till they resolue their perswasions into the certainty of his diuine testimony and vndoubted authority but also in respect of the wicked who in their erronious conceipts are judged by him and of whose sinister and vile courses he sitteth in judgement while he confoundeth their tongues diuideth them one from another maketh them crosse themselues and bringeth all they doe to nothing This judgement all are forced to stand vnto and this is that that maketh a finall end of all controversies according to that of Gamaliel If this thing be of God it will prosper and prevaile and wee inresisting it shall be found fighters against God if not it will come to naught Thus then the judgement of God the father as supreme the judgement of the sonne as the eternall word of God of the spirit as the fountaine of all illumination making vs discerne what is true is that in which wee finally rest The judgement or determination of the word of God is that wherein wee rest as the rule of our faith and the light of Diuine vnderstanding as that whereby we iudge of all things The judgement of Recognition is of three sorts For there is a judgement of discretion common to all Christian men a judgement of direction proper to the guides of the Church and a judgement of jurisdiction proper to them that are in cheife places of authority The first of these is nothing else but an acte of vnderstanding discerning whether things be or not and whether also they bee that which they seeme to bee The second endeuoureth to make others discerne likewise and the third by authority suppresseth all those that shall thinke and pronounce otherwise then they judge that haue the judgement of Iurisdiction Touching the judgement of Recognition wee acknowledge the judgement of the vniuersall Church comprehending the faithfull that are and haue beene to be infallible In the Church that comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that liue at one time in the world there is alwayes found a right judgement of discretion and right pronouncing of each thing necessary all neuer falling into damnable errour nor into any error pertinaciously but a right judgement of men by their power of jurisdiction mantayning the truth and suppressing errour is not alwayes found So that sometimes almost all may conspire agaâ—…nst the truth or consent to betray the sincerity of the Christian profession as they did in the Councells of Ariminium Seleucia in which case as Occam aptly obserueth out of Hierome men haue nothing left vnto them but with sorrowfull hearts to referre all vnto God If sayth Hierome iniquity prevaile in the Church which is the house of God if iustice be oppressed if the madnes of them that should teach guide others proceed so farre as to pervert all the straight wayes of God to receiue rewards to doe wrong to treade downe the poore in the gates and to refuse to heare their complaynts let good men in such times hold their peace let them not giue that which is holy vnto dogges let them not cast pearles before swine least they turne againe and trample them vnder â—…eete let them imitate Ieremie the Prophet who speaketh of himselfe in this sort I sate alone because I was full of bitternesse Euen so sayth Occam when heresies prevaile in the Christian world when truth is trampled vnder feete in the streetes and Prelates Princes being enemies to it endevour with all their power to destroy it when they shall condemne the doctrine of the Fathers molest disquiet and murder the true professours let good men in such times hold their peace keepe silence and be still let them not giue holy things to dogges nor cast pearles before swine least they turne and tread them vnder feete least they wrest and abuse the Scriptures to their owne perdition and the scandall of others but let them with the Prophet sit alone and complaine that their soules are full of bitter heavinesse CHAP. 14. Of the rule of the Churches judgment THus hauing set downe the diuerse kinds of iudgment which must determine and end all controuersies in matter of faith and religion it remaineth to shewe what is the rule of that iudgment whereby the Church discerneth betweene truth and falsehood the faith and heresie and to whom it properly pertaineth to interpret those things which touching this rule are doubtfull As the measure of each thing is that by vertue whereof wee know what it is and the quantity of it so the rule is that by application whereof wee know whether it be that which it should be and be so as it should be The rule of action is that whereby we know whether it be right and performed as it should be or not The rule of doctrine is that whereby wee know whether it be true or false The rule of our faith in generall whereby we know it to be true is the infinite excellencie of God who in eminent sort possesseth all those perfections which in the creatures are diuided and found in an inferiour sort in the full perfect vnion with whom and inioying of whom consisteth all happinesse For by this rule we know that the doctrine of faith which only professeth to bring vs backe to God to possesse and enioy him not as he is participated of vs but as he
Sauiour Christ which though they were neuer written by the Evangelists the Apostles and others conversant with him in the dayes of his flesh knew and faithfully preserued and kept as Mary did all things which she heard him speake and saw him doe of which sort was that alleadged by the Apostle It is more blessed to giue then to receiue wee make no question but that there are any of those vnwritten speeches or Actions necessary to bee knowne for our salvation or containing any other matter of diuine knowledge then is written or that are certainely knowne vnto the Church now we vtterly deny All the historicall things saith Bishop Lindan which are reported concerning Christ not contained in Scripture are fabulous or vncertaine Which doubtlesse was the reason why more errours were found in the writings of the first Fathers of the Primitiue Church then in those that were further remoued from those first beginnings because they were abused by the false and vncertaine reports of traditions which in those times men greedily hearkened after as liuing with thē which had beene conversant with the Apostles or their Schollers as wee shall finde by that is reported of Papias and it appeareth by the writings of others Thus hauing made it cleare and evident that it is not safe to relye vpon traditions in things concerning the faith let vs come to those traditions which concerne the manners and conversation of men That the Apostles deliuered many things of this nature to the Churches some by way of precept some by way of Councell and advice onely some to particular Churches and some to all some to continue but for a time and some to continue for euer we make no doubt Of this sort is the observation of the Lords day the precept whereof is not found in Scripture though the practice be and so may be named a tradition And sundry other things there are which doubtlesse the Apostles deliuered by tradition but they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions as Waldensis aptly noteth that wee might the more reuerence the constitutions of the Church and are dispensable by the guides of the Church because the Apostles and Apostolike men that deliuered them did not deliuer them as reporting the immediate precepts of Christ himselfe but by vertue of their Pastorall power and office and so it little concerneth vs exactly to know whether they were deliuered by the Apostles themselues or their next after-commers For if they were deliuered by the Apostles yet are they dispensable by the authority of the Church and if not by them but by others they may not be dispensed with nor altered but by the same authority CHAP. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowen from counterfaite THus hauing set downe the kindes and sorts of traditions it remaineth to examine by what meanes wee may come to discerne and by what rules wee may judge which are true and indubitate traditions The first rule is deliuered by Augustine Quod vniuersa tenet ecclesia nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi auctoritate Apostolicâ traditum rectissimè creditur Whatsoeuer the whole Church holdeth not being decreed by the authority of Councelles but hauing been euer holden may rightly be thought to haue proceeded from Apostolike authority The second rule is whatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowmed in all ages or at the least in diuerse ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man contradicting or doubting of it may bee thought to be an Apostolicall tradition The third rule is the constant Testimony of the Pastors of an Apostolike Church successiuely deliuered to which some adde the present testimony of any Apostolike Church whose declinings when they beganne we cannot precisely tell But none of the Fathers admitte this rule For when they vrge the authority and testimony of Apostolike Churches for the proofe or reproofe of true or pretended traditions they stand vpon the consenting voyce or silence of the Pastors of such Churches successiuely in diverse ages concerning such things Some adde the testimony of the present Church but we enquire after the rule whereby the present Church may know true traditions from false and besides though the whole multitude of beleeuers at one time in the world cannot erre pertinaciously and damnably in embracing false traditions in stead of true yet they that most sway things in the Church may yea euen the greater part of a generall councell so that this can be no sure rule for men to iudge of traditions by And therefore Canus reasoneth foolishly that whatsoeuer the Church of Rome practiceth which shee may not doe without speciall warrant from God and yet hath no warrant in Scripture so to doe the same things and the practise of them shee hath receiued by tradition Hee giueth example in the present practice of the Romish Church in dispensing with remitting vowes and oathes and in dissoluing marriages not consummate by carnall knowledge by admitting men into orders of Religion But this practice of the Romish Church wee condemne as wicked and Antichristian CHAP. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocriphall THus hauing answered our aduersaries obiections touching the obscuritie and imperfections of the scripture which wee affirme to be the rule of our faith it remayneth that in particular wee consider which are the bookes of this Scripture contayning the rule of our faith and where the indubitate and certaine verity of them is to be found whether in the originals or in the Translations The bookes which Moses the Prophets and Apostles deliuered to the world containe the Canon that is the rule of piety faith and religion which the sonnes of men receiued by Reuelation from heauen and therefore are rightly named Canonicall The matter of these bookes wee beleeue to haue beene inspired from the holy Ghost for our instruction whose authoritie is so great that no man may doubt of them The writers of these bookes were in such sort guided and directed by the spirit of trueth in composing of them that not to beleeue them were impious Wherevpon Augustine writing to Hierome saith Ego solis eis scriptoribus qui Canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre vt nullum eorum scribendo errasse firmissimè teneam at si quod in iis invenero quod videatur contrarium veritati nihil aliud existimem quà m mendosum esse codicem vel non esse assecutum interpretem quod dictum est vel me minimè intellexisse non ambigam alios autem ita lego vt quantalibet sanctitate doctrinâve polleant non ideo verum putem quia ita senserunt sed quia mihi per illos auctores canonicos vel probabiles rationes quod à vero non abhorreat persuadere potuerunt That is I haue learned to yeelde that reuerence and honour to those writers onely that are called Canonicall to thinke that
fury and violence of his enemies pressing in vpon him that he was in very great danger of his life and therefore after the first time would come no more to the place where the Bishops sate Whereupon they not knowing what to doe for it was not fit to judge him being absent there was no reason to proceed against him as contumacious in refusing to come vnto them seeing his refusall seemed to proceed from just feare of danger vtterly refused disclaimed the trying of his cause and the judging of it moued not a little so to doe because great multitudes of the people communicated with him and they had no president of such proceedings against former Bishops The King somewhat offended herewith tolde them that if they did not discusse the cause they would giue an ill example to all Bishops to liue wickedly and at their pleasure in hope of impunity and yet left the matter wholly to them who did nothing in it but onely perswaded to vnity Heereupon there grew some distraction among the Cleargy and people of Rome and some thought the Bishops had done ill in leauing the matter vnexamined Vpon which occasion one Euodius a Deacon writeth a booke in defence of their proceedings which they approue in their fifth Synode or meeting wherein among other things hee hath these wordes Lex probitatis mentis est quae hominem viventem sine lege castigat propriè moribus impendit qui necessitati non debet disciplinam Aliorum fortè hominum causas Deus voluit homines terminare sed sedis istius Praesulis suo sine quaestione reservavit arbitrio Voluit beati Petri Apostoli successores coelo tantùm debere innocentiam sublimissimi discussoris indagini iuviolatam exhibere conscientiam That is The Law of vertue and of the minde keepeth them in awe who liue without any other law Hee that is not otherwise inforced to liue well will liue orderly for the loue of order and good life Haply God would haue the causes of other men ended by men but the causes of the Bishop of this See he reserued no doubt to his owne judgment and his pleasure was that the successours of blessed Peter should be accountable for their good or ill liuing to Heauen only and present and exhibite their consciences kept inviolable to the examination of the most exquisite examiner For answer to this allegation wee say that neither the credite of Euodius is so great that vpon his bare word wee should bee bound to beleeue him nor the authoritie of these Fathers such that whatsoeuer they approue and allow must bee holden for good Notwithstanding admitting these sayings to bee true their owne Canonists and Diuines in their Glosses doe limite and restrain them with certaine exceptions For first they say the case of heresie must bee excepted there being no question but that the Pope may bee judged and condemned by men if he become an hereticke Secondly the case of Penitentiall confession wherein he yeeldeth himself as in duty bound so to do to be judged directed and commanded for his soules good by him to whom hee is pleased to reueale the estate of the same Thirdly the case of voluntary submission It is in my power saith Pope Sixtus to bee judged or not but let matters bee examined and the trueth found out And in like sort Symmachus submitted himselfe to bee judged by the Councell of Bishops Fourthly the case of incorrigible wickednesse when the Church is grieuously scandalized by the notorious ill life and wickednesse of the Pope and hee is found incorrigible in the same This case the Glosse excepteth warranted so to doe by the very light of naturall reason which teacheth vs that when any member of the Body after the cutting off whereof the body may liue and continue infecteth and endangereth the rest and is incurable it may and ought to bee cut off Now though the Pope should in a sort be acknowledged to haue the proportion of the head in the body of the church yet is he herein vnlike vnto a natural head for that the body of the church dieth not when he is taken away from it therefore to stop the deadly infectiō of his impiety and outragious wickednesse from spreading it selfe any further he may bee cut off So that this is the onely difference betweene the Pope and other Bishops that other may be judged though they be not incorrigible but he is not to bee iudged of any other without his owne consent and concurrence when he may be induced to reforme and correct what is amisse as being the chiefe of that company that is to judge of ill doers but if he be incorrigible hee may be proceeded against euen against his will as wee see by the example of Iohn the twelfth who being prodigiously wicked and after many and most earnest admonitions intreaties and perswasions of the Emperour and others refusing any way to reforme himselfe the Emperour called a Councell and deposed him and chose another to succeede him that this deposition was lawfull and good it is euident in that the succeeding Pope was holden to be a true and lawfull Pope while hee yet liued But concerning Gregory the Pope Henry the third did rather perswade him to yeeld and to relinquish his place then depose him because he found him tractable Two other authorities our Aduersaries haue yet behind to proue that the Pope may not be iudged The first is out of the Councell of Chalcedon where the Fathers among many other reasons alledged why they condemned Dioscorus vrge this also as one that hee was so farre from repenting of his manifold euill doings that he railed against the Apostolicke See sought to excommunicate blessed Leo and persisting in his wickednes was wilfull against the whole Councell refused to answer to such things as hee was charged with How it will be inferred from hence that the Pope may not be iudged by a generall Councell I see not For though it bee true that the inferiours may not iudge the greater and superiour and that therefore Iohn of Antioch was condemned for iudging Cyril of Alexandria and Dioscorus for iudging Leo yet it is no way consequent that either Cyril or Leo were free from all iudgement or that they might not be iudged by a generall Councell whatsoeuer they should doe The other authority is out of the Romane Councell vnder Adrian the second whose words recited in the eigth generall Councel are these We reade that the Romane Bishops haue iudged the Bishops of all Churches but that any one hath iudged them we doe not reade For the better vnderstanding and clearing whereof we must obserue first that the person of the Bishop of Rome alone is not meant when he is said to haue iudged the Bishops of all Churches but he must be vnderstood to haue iudged them with his Synode and the Bishops subiect to him as Patriarch of the West For otherwise he
intermeddle with the disposition of earthly kingdomes or restraine or depose Princes how much soeuer they abuse their authoritie The first of these three opinions had anciently and hath presently great patrons and followers Yet Bellarmine very confidently and learnedly refuteth the same First shewing that the Pope is not soueraigne Lord of the whole world Secondly that he is not Lord of the Christian world And thirdly that hee is Lord of no part of the world That he is not Lord of the whole world he proueth because not of those Provinces that are possessed by Infidels which hee demonstrateth First because Christ committed none but onely his sheepe to Peter and therefore gaue him no authoritie ouer Infidels which are not his sheepe whereunto Saint Paul agreeth professing that hee hath nothing to doe to iudge them that are without Secondly because dominion and the right of Princes is not founded in grace or faith but in free will and reason and hath not sprung from the written Law of Moses or Christ but from the law of Nations and Nature VVhich is most cleare in that God both in the Olde and New Testament approueth the Kingdomes of the Gentiles and Infidels as appeareth by that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar O King thou art King of Kings For the God of Heauen hath giuen thee a kingdome power and strength and glory and in all places where the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowles of the heauen hath hee giuen into thine hand and hath made thee a ruler ouer them all And that of Christ Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars With whom the Apostle agreeth requiring the Christians of his time not only to pay tribute to Heathen kings but also to obey them for conscience sake which men were not bound to if they had no authority and right to commaund Neither can it be said that heathen princes are the Popes Lieuetenants and theresore to be obeyed for his sake though not for their owne seeing the Pope would haue no such Lieutenants if it lay in him to place them or displace them Lastly hee proueth that the Pope hath no such soueraigne right of commaunding ouer all as is pretended seeing it had beene vaine for Christ to giue him a right to that whereof hee should neuer get the possession And hauing thus proued that Infidels were truely and rightly Lords of the countries subiect to them before the comming of Christ that he found no nullitie in their titles nor euer seized their kingdomes and dominions into his owne hands as some fondly imagine that he did hee proceedeth to proue that Princes when they become Christians lose not the right that they formerly had to their kingdomes but get a new right to the kingdome of heauen For that otherwise Christs grace should destroy nature and his benefits be preiudiciall to such as are made partakers of them Whereas Christ came not to destroy and ouerthrow things well setled before but to perfect them nor to hurt any but to doe good to all For confirmation whereof hee alleageth part of the Hymne of Sedulius which the whole Church doth sing Hostis Herodes impie Christum venire quid times Non eripit mortalia Qui regna dat coelestia that is O impious enemie Herod why doest thou feare Christs comming He will not depriue thee of thy transitorie kingdome vpon earth that giues an eternall kingdome in heauen Whence it followeth that Christ imposed no such hard condition on those kings that were to become Christians as to leaue their crownes dignities And so he commeth to his second proposition that the Pope is not temporall Lord of the Christian world which he confirmeth First because if the Pope were soueraigne Lord of all the Christian world Bishops should be temporall Lords of their cities the places adioyning subiect to them Which neither they will graunt that contend for the soueraigntie of the Pope nor can stand with that of Saint Ambrose who saith If the Emperour aske tribute we deny it him not The Church lands doe pay tribute And againe Tribute is Caesars it is not denied him but the Church is Gods and may not be yeelded to Caesar. And that of Hosius Bishop of Corduba who as we reade in Athanasius telleth the Emperour that God hath giuē him the Empire but that he hath committed to Bishops those things that pertaine to the Church Secondly out of the confession of Popes Pope Leo confessing that Martianus the Emperour was appointed to the Empire by God and that God was the authour of his Empire And Gelasius writing to Anastasius the Emperour and acknowledging that there are two thinges by which principally the world is guided to wit the sacred authority of Bishoppes and the regall power of Princes with whom Gregorie agreeth when hee saith Power ouer all is giuen from heauen to the piety of my Lord. And from hence hee inferreth his third proposition that the Pope is temporall Lord of no part of the world in the right of Peters successour and Christs Vicar For if there were no nullitie in the titles of infidell kings and princes nor no necessity implied in their conuersion of relinquishing their right when they became Christians but that both infidels christians notwithstanding any act of Christ continued in the full possession of princely power right it could not be that Christ should inuest Peter or his successours with any kingly authority seeing hee could giue them none but such as he should take from others Nay hee proceedeth farther and sheweth that Christ himselfe while hee was on the earth was no temporall Lord or King and therefore much lesse gaue any temporall dominion or kingdome to his Apostles That he was no temporall king he proueth because the right to bee a King or Lord in such sort as men are Kings or Lords is either by inheritance election conquest or speciall donation and gift of Almighty God Now that Christ according to the flesh was a King by right of inheritance hee saith it cannot be proued because though hee came of the kingly familie yet it is vncertaine whether he were the next in bloud to Dauid or not And besides the kingdome was taken away from Dauids house before Christ was borne God had foretold that of the house of Ieconiah of which Christ came as we may reade in the first of Saint Matthew there should neuer be any temporall King such as David and the rest that succeeded him were saying Write this man barren a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for there shall bee no man of his seede to sitte vpon the throne of Dauid to haue power any more in Iudah And whereas it might be obiected that the Angell prophecied that the Lord God should giue vnto Christ the seat of Dauid his father the Cardinall answereth out of Hierome vpon the place of Hieremie and
in a sort ouer them who though they giue not the name of Bishops nor so much authority to these Presidents as Antiquity did yet is not their errour in this point matchable with the errours that are amongst Papists contradicting one another touching the Pope and his gouernment in things most essentially concerning the power and authority of that supposed Ministeriall head of the Church Wherefore let vs come to my last allegation excepted against by Master Higgons which is that we want not a most certaine rule to end all controversies by which is the written word of God interpreted according to the rule of faith the practise of the Saints from the beginning the conference of places and all light of direction that either knowledge of tongues or any parts of good learning can yeeld In excepting against this rule Master Higgons sheweth the weakenesse of his braine for what if Luther Zuinglius and other complained against such as they thought to bee opposite to them in opinion touching some particular points that they had not due regard to this rule or that they vsed it not aright What if all bee not presently of one minde and judgement in all things will that improue the rule of judging which wee propose and not rather argue the imperfection of such as should judge according to it But hee craueth leaue to except against the rule proposed by Mee for three respects first because the principles of our religion exclude the meanes of reconciliation to wit the gravity of Councels the dignity of Fathers and the authority of the Church For answer wherevnto wee say that wee exclude not the gravity of Councels for wee absolutely without all restriction receiue all the lawfull Generall Councells that euer were holden touching matters of faith and though wee make God speaking in his word to bee the onely judge authentically defining and prescribing what men shall beleeue vnder paine of condemnation yet wee thinke Councells haue a judgement of jurisdiction and that they may subject all gaine-sayers to excommunication and like censures Neither doth it any way derogate from the authority of Bishoppes assembled in Councels that we make them iudges to determine according to the word of God the resolutions of the Church from the beginning not the rule it selfe for what man in his right wits will attribute any more vnto them and make them iudges at liberty tied to the following of no rule of direction or like God that is a rule to himselfe in all his actions and hath no Law prescribed to him by any other Yet because Master Higgons willeth the reader to compare Campians fourth reason with my assertion I will likewise intreat him to see a worthy discourse of Clemangis wherein he proueth at large that Bishoppes assembled in Generall Councels must proue and confirme their determinations by other arguments then by their own authority and giueth many reasons by which a man may reasonably perswade himselfe that such Councels are not absolutely generally free from danger of erring whence it followeth that they neither are the rule that is to be followed in determining controuersies nor after they are determined Touching the dignity of Fathers authority of the Church wee esteeme them both as beseemeth vs for whatsoeuer the Fathers generally with one consent deliuer in matters of faith we admit receiue as true without father examination as likewise whatsoeuer the Church consisting of all Christians not noted for heresie or singularity that are and haue beene since the Apostles times but of particular Fathers parts of the Church we iudge according to the rule of Gods word and the generall resolution of the Fathers and the whole Church that hath beene since the Apostles times His next exception against our rule is because wee admitte not the Pope to bee iudge of all controuersies in CHRISTS steed which hee must frame in this sort The Pope is supreame iudge of controuersies in religion therefore the Word of GOD interpreted in sorte before expressed is not the rule that is to bee followed in determining thinges doubtfull and then the consequence will be naught and the antecedent false for though we should grant the Pope to be appointed judge of controuersies in Christs stead yet I hope his Holinesse is bound to follow some rule of direction in iudging and if any what other then that mentioned by Mee I cannot conceiue But whatsoeuer become of the consequence the antecedent is false for he shall neuer proue while his name is Higgons that the Pope is supreame iudge of cōtrouersies And the ignorance or impudencie of the man deserueth iust reproofe in that hee feareth not to abuse the authority of Cyprian to that purpose who was so far frō taking the Pope for his iudge that he freely disséted frō him and professed that one Bishop is not to judge another but that they are to be iudged of God onely and the whole company of Bishoppes neyther doth the place produced by him out of Cyprians Epistles proue any such thing as hee would enforce for it is most euidēt that Cyprian speaketh of one Bishop in each Diocesse not of one Bishop in the whole Christian Church when he sayth Heresies arise from no other cause then that the Priest of God is not obeyed and that men think not of one Priest iudge in Christs steed as it will easily appeare to any one that will take the paines to see the place But saith Higgons the Lutherans seeke to predominate and the Caluinistes will not obey therefore there must be an vmpier betweene them and consequently the Pope must end the quarell Whereunto I answere in a word that howsoeuer the violent humors of some men make a rent in the Church yet there is no difference in iudgement amongst those whom he calleth Lutherans and Caluinists in any matter of faith and therefore the mediation of moderate men interposing themselues or the authority of Princes professing the reformed Religion may in that good time that God shall think fitte easily make an end of these contentions without seeking to the Romish Babilonicall Monarch His third exception is a meere begging of that which is in controuersie which shal neuer be graunted him For I say confidently as before that the matters wherein the followers of Luther and the rest professing the reformed religion seeme to differ are neyther many in number reall in euidence nor substantiall in waight as he vainely braggeth hee can proue out of Luther Hunnius and Conradus on the one part and Zuinglius Sturmius Clebitius c. on the other part And therefore here is noe reproofe of that I haue sayd of the reconciling of these differences but a proofe of his vanity in bragging of that which hee will neuer be able to performe That which I haue written touching the reconciling of these men in shew so opposite in the matter of the Vbiquitary presence and the
not onely a condition but a cause of that perswasion of fayth which they haue yea the authority of the Church is the formall cause of all that faith seduced Papists haue And therefore the distinction of a cause and condition helpeth them not It is true indeed that the Ministerie of the Church proposing to men thinges to bee beleeued is onely a condition requisite to the producing of a supernaturall act of fayth in respect of them that haue some other thing to perswade them that that is true which the Church proposeth besides the authority of the Church but in respect of such as haue no other proofe of the trueth thereof it is a formall cause Now this is the condition of all Papists For let them tell Mee whether they beleeue the Scripture to be the Word of God without any motiue at all or not and if they doe not as it is most certaine they doe not whether besides such as are humane they haue any other then the authority of the Church if they haue not as doubtlesse they haue not they make the authority of the Church the formall cause of their faith and fall into that sophisticall circulation they are charged with For they beleeue the articles of religion because reuealed and that they were reuealed because it is so contayned in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the Word of God that it is the Word of God because the Church telleth them it is and the Church because it is guided by the spirit and that it is so guided because it is so contayned in the Scripture this is such a maze as no wise man will willingly enter into and yet the Treatiser commendeth the treading of these intricate pathes and telleth vs that two causes may bee causes one of another That the cause may bee proued by the effect and the effect by the cause and that such a kinde of argumentation is not a circulation but a demonstratiue regresse that two causes may be causes either of other in diuerse respects we make no question For the end of each thing as it is desired setteth the efficient cause a worke and the efficient causeth the same to bee actually enjoyed Likewise we doubt not but that the cause may be proued by the effect and the effect by the cause in a demonstratiue regresse For the effect as better known vnto vs then the cause may make vs know the cause and the cause being found out by vs may make vs more perfitly and in a better sort to knowe the effect then before not onely that and what it is but why it is also So the death of little infants proueth them sinners and their being sinners proueth them mortall The bignesse of the footstep in the dust or sand sheweth the bignesse of his foote that made that impression And the bignesse of his foote will shew how bigge the impression is that he maketh but this maketh nothing for the justifying of the Romish circulations For heere the effect being knowne in a sort in itselfe maketh vs know the cause and the cause being found out and knowne maketh vs more perfectly to knowe the effect then at first wee did but the case is otherwise with the Papists for with them the Scripture which in it selfe hath no credit with them but such onely as it is to receiue from the Church giueth the Church credit and the Church which hath no credit but such as it is to receiue from the Scripture giueth the Scripture credit by her testimony And they endeauour to proue the infallibility of the Churches judgment out of the Scripture and the trueth of the Scripture out of the determination and judgement of the Church Much like as if when question is made touching the quality condition of two men vtterly vnknowne a man to commend them to such as doubt of them should bring no other testimony of their good and honest disposition but the testimony of each of them of the other It is true then which I haue said that to a man admitting the Old Testament and doubting of the New a man may vrge the authority of the Old and to a man doubting of the Old and admitting the New the authority of the New but to him that doubteth of both a man must alledge neither of them but must bring some other authority or proofe so likewise to him that admitteth the Scripture and doubteth of the Church a man may vrge the authority of the Scripture but to him that doubteth of both as all doe when they begin to beleeue a man must alledge some other proofe or else hee shall cause him to runne round in a Circle for euer and neuer to finde any way out Wherefore to conclude this poynt let our Aduersaries know that wee admitte and require humane motiues and inducements and amongst them a good opinion of them that teach vs as preparing fitting vs to fayth Secondly that wee require a supernaturall ayde light and habit for the producing of an act of faith Thirdly that we require some diuine motiue inducement Fourthly that this cannot be the authority of the Church seeing the authority of the Church is one of the things wee are to bee induced to beleeue Fiftly that wee require the ministery of the Church as a propounder of all heauenly trueth though her authority can be no proofe in generall of all such truth Sixtly that the Church though not as it includeth onely the beleeuers that are in the world at one time yet as it comprehendeth all that are or haue beene is an infallible propounder of heauenly truth and so acknowledged to bee by such as are assured of the trueth of the doctrine of Christianity in generall Seauenthly that the authority of this Church is a sufficient proofe of the trueth of particular things proposed by her to such as already are by other diuine motiues assured of her infallibility §. 7. FRom the authority of the Scripture which he would faine make to bee wholy dependant on the Church the Treatiser passeth to the fulnesse and sufficiency of it seeking amongst other his discourses to weaken those proofes which are brought by Mee for confirmation thereof Affirming that though I make shew as if it were a plaine matter that the Euangelists in their Gospels Saint Luke in the Actes of the Apostles and Saint Iohn in the Apocalyps meant to deliuer a perfect summe of Christian doctrine and direction of faith yet I bring no reason of any moment to proue it Whereas yet in the place cited by him I haue these wordes contayning in them as I suppose a strong proofe of the thing questioned Who seeth not that the Evangelists writing the history of CHRISTS life and death St Luke in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles describing the comming of the Holy Ghost the admirable gifts and graces powred vpon the Apostles and the churches founded and ordered by them and Saint Iohn writing the Revelations
example of it in Scripture yet I affirme that it is no vnwritten tradition in that the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of it are there contained the benefites that follow it Neither doth the place alledged by him out of Augustine proue the contrary the words of Augustine as commonly we reade them are these the custome of the Church in baptizing infants which is not to be despised or lightly regarded were not to be beleeued were it not an Apostolique tradition But whosoeuer shall consider the place will soone perceiue that Augustines meaning is that the custome of the Church in baptizing Infants which he saith is not to be despised or lightly regarded is to be beleeued to be no other but an Apostolical tradition not that it were not to be beleeued if it were not an Apostolicall tradition howsoeuer as it seemeth esset in stead of esse is crept into the text For it is something harsh to say the custome of the Church in baptizing infants is not to be beleeued vnlesse it were an Apostolicall Tradition Seeing such a custome might be beleeued though it were not an Apostolicall Tradition And besides the drift of Augustine in that place is to vrge the necessitie of this custome and to haue it beleeued to be Apostolicall and not to weaken it as if it had no support but bare tradition which can neither stand with the opinion of Augustine the truth of the thing it selfe nor the iudgement and resolution of our Adversaries themselues who thinke that the Baptisme of Infants may be proued vnanswerably out of Scripture in that CHRIST saith the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth to litle children and yet pronounceth that except a man bee borne a new of water of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heauen Wherein yet they contradict themselues as they doe likewise in some other things which they produce as instances of vnwritten traditions and yet goe about to proue them by Scripture Neither will the Treatisers evasion serue the turne that they goe not about to proue any thing necessarily out of Scripture that they pretend to be holden by vnwritten tradition but probably only for we know they bring Paedobaptisme as an instance of vnwritten traditions and yet say it may bee vnavoydably proued out of Scripture as they propose the testimonies of it The like may be said of the consubstantiality of the Sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from them both brought by them as instances of vnwritten verities and yet prooued as strongly by them out of Scripture as any other point of Faith For if they shall say an Heretique will not yeeld himselfe convinced by such proofes it will bee answered that no more he will by any other in any other point nor by the tradition of the Church neither which yet I suppose they will not make to be a weake proofe in that respect §. 9. THe next exception taken against Me is that I haue not well said that a man may still doubt and refuse to beleeue a thing defined in a Generall Councell without Hereticall pertinacie and that Generall Councels may erre in matters of greatest consequence What I haue written I will make good against the Treatiser For it is not so strange a thing as he would make vs beleeue to thinke that Generall Councels may erre that a man may doubt of things defined in thē without heretical pertinacie seeing not onely our Diuines generally so thinke but sundry of the best learned in the Romane Church informer times were of the same opinion as I haue else-where shewed at large Neither were it hard to answere the authorities hee bringeth to prooue that Generall Councels cannot erre if a man would insist vpon the particular examination of them But this may suffice in a generalitie that the Fathers produced by him blame and condemne in particular the calling of things in question that had beene determined in the Councell of Nice and some other of that sort and not generallie the doubting of any thing determined in any Councell how disorderly soeuer it proceeded In the second Councell of Ephesus there wanted not a sufficient number of worthy Bishops yet because hee that tooke on him the Presidentship vsed not accustomed moderation neither permitted each man freely to deliuer his opinion it was not accepted nor the Decrees of it receiued From the not erring of Councels the Treatiser passeth to the question concerning the Churches authority in making new Articles of faith and seeketh to cleare the Romane Church from the imputation of challēging any such authority by my confession my words alleadged by him to this purpose are these Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholique truth that was not so before But the good man hath vsed this poore sentence of mine as Hanun vsed the messengers of Dauid whose garments he cut off in the middle a wrong afterwards seuerely and yet most iustly reuenged by Dauid For it followeth in the same sentence that Papists do thinke that the Church by her sole and bare determination may make that veritie to be in such sort Catholique that euery one must expressely beleeue it that was not soe and in such degree Catholique before Whereby it appeareth that they attribute a power to the Church in a sort to make new Articles of faith in that shee may make things formerly beleeued onely implicite to bee necessary to bee expressely beleeued not by euidence of proofe or apparant deduction from thinges expressely beleeued but by her bare and sole authority which not onely wee but sundry right learned godly and wise in the middest of the Church of Rome euer denied Wherefore let vs passe from this imagined aduantage to consider the rest of his exceptions §. 10. IN my third booke and first Chapter speaking of the Patriarche of Constantinople I haue these words In the second generall Councell holden at Constantinople he was preferred before the other Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioch and set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishoppe of Rome in the great Councell of Chalcedon hee was made equall with him and to haue all equall rights priuiledges and prerogatiues because hee was Bishoppe of new Rome as the other was of old Hereupon the Treatiser breaketh out into these wordes I cannot doe otherwise but maruaile that a man of his place and learning doth not blush to committe such a notorious vntrueth to the Print and view of the world For not to speake of the falshood of the first part of his affirmation because it is in some sort impertinent that which hee saith of the Councell of Chalcedon is most vntrue repugnant to all antiquity and not onely contrary to all proceedings and the history of the sayd Councell but also to the wordes of the Canon by him alleaged
heart that they may discerne see the light of heauenly truth it is evident that in Augustines judgment the authority of the Church serueth but as an introduction that the thing which right beleeuers rest vpon is of a higher nature to wit the discerning of heauenly truth Wherefore finding himselfe too weak to giue any substantiall answer he betaketh himselfe to a most silly exception pretending that I haue not truly translated these words of Augustin praesto est authoritas quā partim miraculis partim multitudine valere nemo ambigit authoritie is ready at handwhich standeth vpō 2 things the one the greatnes of miracles done the other multitude Is this a false translatiō hath the authority of the church that force which it hath to moue mē to beleeue partly by reasō of miracles partly by reasō of multitude may it not be truly said that it standeth partly vpon the greatnes of miracles wrought partly vpō multitudes but valere doth not signifie to stād vpō it is true it doth not yet what boy in the Grāmer School will not laugh at him for thus childishly demeaning himself for what man of vnderstāding would cal men to cōster euery word precisely as it importeth by it selfe without consideration of the coherence it hath with other in the same sentence Besides this place of Aug. there is another cited by Me out of Hugo where he maketh 3 sorts of beleeuers whereof the first are such as are moued out of piety to beleeue which yet discerne not by reason whether the things they beleeue are to bee beleeued or not The second such who by reason approue that which by faith they beleeue The third sort are such as by reason of the purity of their heart conscience begin inwardly to taste what by faith they beleeue This place maketh strongly for the confirmation of that I say that the evidence of sundry things in the light of faith and grace is that formall reason which assureth vs of the truth of them For heere Hugo affirmeth that the best sort of beleeuers doe approue by reason or by taste invvardly discerne the things they beleeue to be true So that such approbation or spiritual taste is the reason of their perswasion of the truth of these things To this authoritie the Treatiser hath nothing to say but that it maketh nothing to the purpose and that if I meant to translate the vvords of Hugo I haue not exactly translated thē Whether the saying of Hugo be to the purpose or not I vvill leaue it to the iudgment of the Reader but as for his other exception I vvould haue him knovv and any sensible Reader vvill very easilie discerne that I meant not exactlie to translate his vvordes but at large to set downe the intent driftes of them which I haue most truely performed and therefore hee doth Me wrong when hee saith I deale corruptly vntruly In the third place hee endeauoureth to make his Reader beleeue there is a contrariety betweene Me and Luther Brentius in that Luther with whom Brentius seemeth to agree maketh the Scripture to be of it self a most certaine most easie and most manifest interpreter of it selfe prouing judging and enlightning all things I acknowledge many difficulties in it But if the Treatiser had beene pleased to haue taken thinges aright he could not but haue seene that Luther also acknowledgeth manifold difficulties in the Scripture yea hee doth see it and acknowledge it and yet will not see it and therefore that he bee not contrary to himselfe when he affirmeth that the Scriptures are easie interpret themselues and judge and enlighten all thinges he must bee vnderstood to meane that notwithstanding some difficulties they are not so obscure and hard as that Heretiques may wrest and abuse them at their pleasure and noe man bee able to conuince them out of the euidence of those sacred writings as the Romanistes imagine but that wee may bee so assured out of the Scripture it selfe and the nature of the thinges therein contained that wee haue the true meaning of it that wee neede not altogether to rest in the authority of Church which explication of Luthers words the Treatiser might haue found in the place cited by him if hee had beene pleased and so haue omitted the vrging of this imagined contradiction §. 3. The 4. thing that he proposeth which cōcerneth me is that I mentiō a rule of faith according to which the Scriptures are to be interpreted which if we neglect al other considerations are insufficient the like he alleageth out of the Harmony of confessions whence he inferreth that we admit another guide in interpreting the Scripture besides the letter of the Scripture But hee should knowe that the rule of faith mentioned by me deliuered to vs from hand to hand by the guides of Gods Church containeth nothing in it but that which is found in Scripture either expressely or by necessary implication so that though wee admitte another guide in the interpretation of of Scripture besides the bare letter yet wee admitte noe other but that forme of Christian doctrine which all right beleeuing Christians taught by the Apostles and Apostolique men haue euer receiued as contained in the Scripture and thence collected To this hee addeth an excellent obseruation which is that I seeme to confesse that Saint Paul sometimes by the workes of the Law vnderstandeth the workes of the Law of Moses in that I say that that Apostle pronounceth that the Galathians were bewitched and that if they still persisted to joyne circumcision and the workes of the Law with Christ they were fallen from grace and Christ could profit them nothing But hee needed not thus to mince the matter for I willingly confesse that Paul not sometimes onely but euer vnderstandeth by the workes of the Lawe the workes of Moses Law Neither can there any thing be inferred thence for the Papists or against vs. For whereas by the workes of the Lawe some vnderstand those workes which the ceremoniall Lawe prescribed other such as the morall Lawe requireth and and a third sort such as by terror it worketh in men or causeth them to worke without any chaunge of the heart which cannot be wrought but only by grace the Papists think that whē the Apostle sayth we are iustified by faith without workes he excludeth not such works as the Morall Law requireth but such as the ceremoniall Law prescribeth and the morall Law worketh in men we teach that he excludeth all these So that a man repenting and beleeuing may bee saued though hauing neuer done any good worke he be taken out of this world before he can do any It is true indeede that good workes do necessarily follow iustification if time do serue and opportunity bee offered yet are they no meritorious causes of saluation But the Treatiser will proue out of that which I haue written that they are meritorious that
reason doth he giue of his dislike these words hee saith seeme to pretend a kind of doubting or staggering which must not be allowed especially in such men as are spirituall As if a spirituall man might doubt of nothing nor be ignorant of nothing whereas yet all men know S. Augustine S. Hierome and other holy Fathers who as wee thinke were spirituall doubted of the meaning of sundry passages of holy scriptures and left many questions vnresolued If happily he say men may not doubt of matters of faith and that therefore they must not be said to haue mindes desirous of truth with resolution to embrace it it will be answered that noe man professing himselfe to be a Christian ought to doubt of such things as all Christians are bound expressely to beleeue yet are there many matters of faith that is such as must be beleeued at least implicite that faithfull men may doubt of and enquire after Yea at first when a man beginneth to beleeue hee doubteth of all points of faith and must be setled in the same by the Scriptures interpreted vnto him the diuine illumination of grace making him vnderstand them Thirdly whereas I reckon the knowledge of the rule of faith and the practise of the Saints according to the same amongst the meanes which are necessarie for the vnderstanding of the Scripture and define that rule First to bee the summary comprehension of such principall articles of diuine knowledge as are contained in the Creede of the Apostles and are the principles whence all other things are deriued Secondly all such things as all Christians are bound to beleeue expressely which haue bin euer constantly beleeued by all such as haue not beene noted for singularity and nouelty Hee sayth most men will dislike my doctrine and pronounceth this rule to bee verie vncertaine and yet presently forgetting himselfe addeth that hee hath proued in the first part of this Treatise that in very deede the Scriptures ought to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith that is the summe of Christian Religion preserued as a depositum in the Church But some man happily will say that howsoeuer he forgetteth himselfe yet hee hath good aduantage against vs. For first he argueth that if the Scripture be to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith the rule of faith it selfe is not knowne and beleeued through the authority of the Scripture Secondly hee sayth the practise of the Saints from the beginning to which I require men to haue an eye in interpreting Scripture canne very hardly be gathered out of the monuments of Antiquity according to my grounds For answere to which obiections First I say that the particular and seuerall parts of Scripture must bee interpreted according to the rule of fath that is the summe of Christian Doctrine receiued in the Church and that yet the same summe of Christian doctrine is no otherwise to bee receiued by vs but because it hath beene deliuered by the Church as gathered out of the due comparing of one part of Scripture with another and from thence confirmed and proued Neither must wee firmely rest in the direction of it till the Church make vs see and discerne how it is gathered out of seuerall places of Scripture layd together Secondly that the practise of the saints may bee knowne out of the monuments of antiquity soe farre forth as is necessary for the helping of vs to vnderstand the Scriptures without any such difficultie as the Treatiser imagineth For example when Saint Augustine was to interpret certaine places of Scripture touching the deriuation of sinne from Adam and to cleare the point whether it were by naturall propagation or by imitation onely as the Pelagians thought it was not hard for him to know that the Church did euer most carefully present her new borne infants to Baptisme before they could bee mis-led and drawne away to euill by following the example of Adams disobedience thence to infer that she euer beleeued that infants are conceiued and borne in sinne and consequently that the propagation of sinne from Adam is naturall and not by imitation onely The fourth thing that I require in him that will take vpon him to interprete the Scripture is a due consideration what will follow vpon his interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things generally receiued beleeued amongst Christians against which he hath nothing to say yet that hee might bee thought to say something first hee challengeth Luther for not obseruing this rule And secondly affirmeth that it is insufficient if at any time almost all Christians may erre as I teach But first concerning Luther the good man should know that hee cannot iustly be charged with the breach of this rule seeing he broached no new doctrine in the Church as the Treatiser vntruly affirmeth but such as had the testimony of Antiquity and the allowance of innumerable Christians in his time as well in the West as in the East And secondly that the possibilitie of the erring of the greatest part of the Church prejudiceth not this rule he might if hee pleased learne out of Vincentius Lirinensis who acknowledgeth that sometimes error may ouer-spread almost all the present church prescribeth that in such a case men should looke vp higher into antiquity The two other ensuing rules to wit consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before following after the knowledge of all such histories arts sciences as may helpe vs in interpreting the Scripture he passeth ouer as necessary though not sufficient of themselues alone The knowledge of the originall tongues he acknowledgeth to bee profitable but will not admit it to be necessary especially according to the conceipt of the Romanists First because they are sure they haue the Scriptures rightly translated Secondly because they make not the Scripture the propounder of their beleefe but expound it according to the rule of Faith deliuered receiued In which passages he bewrayeth grosse ignorance For first the Romanists are not sure that they haue the Scripture truly translated as it appeareth by that which Andradius hath written who proueth at large that though the vulgar translation were allowed of by the Councell of Trent as containing nothing in it whence any heresie or errour in faith may be inferred yet is it not without many great mistakings And secondly if they were sure yet as Melchior Canus sheweth the knowledge of tongues is needfull for the finding out of the meaning of sundry particular places of Scripture by reason of some ambiguity or obscurity in the translation Thirdly for that though the rule of Faith serue for direction in generality so that following the same we may bee sure not to decline from the truth of doctrine yet will not that rule secure vs from all erring and swaruing from the meaning of each place in particular so that in this respect the
wee are of wee will most willingly listen vnto them But this they doe not and therefore their talking of the Fathers reasoning from succession when they dare not reason as the fathers did is most vaine and idle CHAP. 41. Of Vnity the kindes of it and that Communion with the Romane Bishoppe is not alwayes a note of true and Catholike profession THe next note of the Church assigned by them is Vnity The Vnity of the Church consisteth principally in three things First in obseruing and holding the Rule of faith once deliuered to the Saints Secondly in the subiection of the people to their Pastours and thirdly in the due connexion of many Pastours and the flockes depending on them among themselues All these kinds and sorts of vnity wee thinke necessarily required in some degree in all those societies of Christians that will demonstrate themselues to bee the true Churches of God and deny not but that vnity in this sort expressed and conceiued is a most apt note of the true Church The papists suppose that besides these kinds and sorts of vnity before expressed there is also required another kind of vnity to the being of the Church namely subiection to and vnion with that visible head which as they thinke Christ hath left in his steade to gouerne the whole body of the Church and to rule both Pastors and people This head as they suppose is the Bishoppe of Rome from whose communion sith wee are fallen they inferre that wee are diuided from the vnity of the true Church This last kinde of vnity deuised by the Papists wee deny to bee necessarily required to the beeing of the true Church First therefore let vs see what may bee said for or against the necessity of this kinde of vnitie and in the next place consider what our aduersaries can conclude for themselues or against vs from that kind of vnity which wee acknowledge to be necessarily required to the being of the true Church If the vnion of all Christians with this supposed visible head which is the Bishop of Rome were necessarily required as a perpetuall dutie then was there no true Church in the time of the Anti-Popes when the wisest knew not who were the true Popes and who were vsurpers If they shall reply that it is necessary to hold Communion with the true if hee may bee knowne this hath no more warrant of reason than the former seeing the best learned amongst thēselues thinke that not only the Pope but also the whole cleargy people of Rome may erre and fall into damnable heresies in which case it is the part of euery true Christian to disclaime all communion with them and to oppose himselfe against them and all their hereticall impieties That it is possible for the Pope to erre and become an heretique so many great Divines in the Church of Rome haue at all times most constantly defended that the greatest patrons of the infallibility of the Popes judgement at this day are forced to confesse it is not necessary to beleeue that the Pope cannot erre but that it is onely a matter of probable dispute Thus then it is evident to all that will not wilfully oppose themselues against the truth that consent with the Romane Bishoppe cannot bee made a perpetuall and sure note of the true Church Nay the Grecians most constantly affirme that the Popes taking all to himselfe and challenging to bee head of the vniversall Church hath beene the cause of the Churches division But because Bellarmine is so excellent a Sophister that he is able to proue any thing to bee true though neuer so false and absurde Let vs see how hee proueth that consent with the Bishop of Rome is a note of the true Church in such sorte that whosoeuer holdeth Communion with him is a Catholike and contrarily whosoeuer forsaketh his Communion is an Heretique or Schismatique This hee endeavoureth to make good by the testimonies of sundry of the auncient Fathers wrested against their knowne meanings and vndoubted resolutions in other parts of their workes and writings His first allegation is out of Irenaeus in his third booke and third Chapter against heresies But if wee consider the circumstances of the place and the occasion of the wordes ci◅d by Bellarmine wee shall easily see they proue no such thing as hee laboureth to enforce For Irenaeus in that place sheweth how all heresies may bee refuted by opposing against them the tradition of the Apostles which hee saith wee may easily finde out and discerne how contrary it is to the franticke conceites of heretiques by taking a view of them which were ordained Bishoppes by the Apostles in the Churches of Christ and their successours to this present time which neuer taught nor knew any such thing as these men dreame Now because it would bee tedious to reckon all the successions of Bishoppes succeeding one another in euery Church therefore he produceth the succession of the Bishops in the Romane Church in steede of all because that being the most famous and renowned Church of the world constituted and founded by the two most principall and glorious Apostles Peter and Paul whatsoeuer was successiuely taught and receiued in that Church and consequently deliuered vnto it by those blessed Apostles must needes be the doctrine and tradition of the rest of the Apostles deliuered to all other Churches of the World For what was there hidden from these Apostles that was revealed vnto any of the rest and what would they hide from this principall Church that was any way necessary to bee knowne Therefore saith Irenaeus the producing of the Romane succession is in stead of all For it must needes bee that what this most principall Church receiued from these great Apostles that nothing else the other did receiue from their Apostles first preachers which he expresseth in these words Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorē principalitatē necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiā hoc est cos qui sunt vndique fideles Bellarmines sense of these words that all Churches must frame themselues to beleeue what the Church of Rome beleeueth and prescribeth to others to bee beleeued no way standeth with the drift of Irenaeus in this place as may appeare by that which hath beene sayd and therefore this allegation might haue beene spared His next authorities are out of Cyprians Epistles in the first of which Epistles we shall finde that there were certaine Schismatikes that fled from their owne lawfull Bishop and superiours with complaints to other Bishops and Churches and amongst the rest to the Church and Bishop of Rome not knowing sayth Cyprian or at least not considering that the Romanes are such as will not giue entertainement to such perfidious companions nor listen to lying and false reports For that is the meaning of those words Ad quos perfidia non possit habere accessum But Bellarmine wresteth the words to another sense to wit that infidelitie and
tunc solum theologicè aliquid probari cum ex dictis probatur sacrae scripturae out of the common conceipt and apprehension of all men for all men doe thinke that then onely a thing is proued theologically when it is proued out of the sayings of holy Scripture and if wee distinguish theologicall conclusions from principles theologicall I affirme that all those verities that are not formally and in precise words contained in holy scripture but are necessarily deduced from things soe contained in it are conclusions theologicall whether they bee determined by the Church or not for the Church determineth that a proposition is to bee beleeued precisely because it seeth it is necessarily deduced from the words of holy Scripture but no other that is not so deduced is to be accounted a theologicall conclusion which is proued out of the sayings of Saint Augustine in his fourteenth booke de Trinitate cap. 1. where hee sayth hee doth not conceiue that all that that may bee knowne by man in humane things pertaineth to this science but those things onely whereby the most wholesome faith that leadeth to true happinesse is begotten nourished defended and strengthened but it is euident that euery such thing is either expressely and in precise tearmes contained in holie scripture or is deduced from things soe contained in it for otherwise the Scripture should not bee sufficient to our saluation and the defense of our faith which is contrary to Saint August 2 de doctrinâ Christianâ where hee sayth Quicquid homo extra didicerit si noxium est ibi damnatur si vtile ibi inuenitur that is whatsoeuer a man shall learne without and beside the scripture if it bee hurtfull it is there condemned if profitable it is there found Here wee haue a pregnant testimonie of a man of eminent place and great worth peremptorily resoluing for the sufficiencie of the Scripture and assuring vs that this was not his priuate conceipt but the generall opinion of all men in his time and be fore Scotus agreeth with Ariminensis his words are these Whatsoeuer pertaineth to the heauenly and supernaturall knowledge and is necessary to bee knowne of man in this life is sufficiently deliuered in the sacred Scriptures and in another place Sicut theologia beatorum habet terminum ita nostra ex voluntate Dei revelantis terminus autem praefixus â voluntate divinâ quantum ad revelationem generalem est eorum quae sunt in sacrâ scripturâ quia sicut habetur Apocalyp ultimo Qui apposuerit ad haec apponet ei Deus plagas quae apponuntur in libro isto igitur theologia nostra de facto non est nisi de his quae continentur in scripturâ de his quae possunt elici ex ipsis that is As the Theologie of those blessed ones that are in heauen hath a certaine bound without and beyond which it extendeth not it selfe so also that theologicall knowledge that wee haue hath bounds set vnto it by the will of God that revealeth divine and heauenly trueth vnto vs and the bound prefixed by the will of God who generally will reveale no more is within the compasse of such things as are found in the holy Scripture because as it is in the last of the Revelation whosoeuer shall adde vnto these things GOD shall adde vnto him the plagues that are added in this booke Ockam in his Dialogues saith There is one opinion that onely those verities are to bee esteemed Catholique and such as are necessarily to bee beleeued for the attaining of saluation which either expressely are deliuered in Scripture or by necessary consequence may bee inferred from things so expressed and that they that follow this opinion alleadge sundry authorities for proofe of the same as that of Augustine Ego solis scripturarum libris didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre ut earum nullum authorem in aliquo errasse firmissimè credam c. alios autem ita lego ut quantalibet sanctitate quantave doctrinâ polleant non ideo verum putem quia ita ipsi senserint sed quia per alios authores canonicos vel probabiles rationes quod à vero non aberrent mihi persuadere potuerunt I haue learned to giue this honour and reverence onely to the bookes of Scripture as that I should beleeue that none of the authors of them in ought haue erred c But others I so reade that how great soeuer their sanctitie and learning bee I doe not therefore thinke that to bee true which they haue written because it was their opinion but because they are able to perswade mee either by some other canonicall Authours or by probable reasons that they haue not erred from the trueth And in another place Quis nesciat sanctam scripturam canonicam tam veteris quà m noui testamenti certis terminis suis contineri eamque posterioribus omnibus Episcoporum libris praeponi ut de illâ omninò dubitari disceptari non possit vtrum verum vel utrum rectum sit quicquid in eâ scriptum esse constiterit Episcoporum autem literas quae post confirmatum canonem vel scriptae sunt vel scribuntur per sermonem fortè sapientiorem cuiuslibet in eà re peritioris per aliorum Episcoporum graviorem auctoritatem doctioremque prudentiam per concilia reprehendi licere si quid in iis forté à veritate est deviatum Who knowes not that the holy Canonicall Scripture as well of the Olde as the New Testament is contained within it's certaine bounds and that it is preferred before all the Bookes of Bishoppes that haue beene written since so that there may bee no doubt made nor dispute raised concerning it whether whatsoeuer is certainely knowne to bee registred in it bee true or right But that the letters of Bishoppes which either haue beene or are written since the confirmation of the Canon may bee reprehended if in any thing they haue strayed from the trueth both by the speech perchaunce wiser of some one better skilled in that matter and by the more graue authority more learned wisedome of other Bishops and by generall councells And Hierom Quod de Scripturis authoritatem non habet eâdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur That which hath not authority and confirmation from the Scriptures is with like facility rejected as it is vrged Others hee sheweth to bee of a contrary opinion but being pressed to giue instance of things necessarily beleeued and yet not contayned in the Scripture they giue no other but certaine matters of fact as that the Apostles composed the Symbol called the Apostles creed that Peter was at Rome things of that nature Ockam in this place deliuereth not his owne opinion but only reciteth the contrary opinions of other men but in another place inveighing against the Canonists going about to proue that it principally pertayneth to diuines to define determine what is catholicke
is punished in the other which remaineth when either he is kept from inioying the things he orderly desireth or left free to desire such things as orderly are not to be desired If man haue lost all desire of that which is just as just as here he saith he hath then surely he sinneth in all his actions and is depriued of all morall rectitude for what morall rectitude is in him that loueth nothing because it is just farther then it may be commodious and in that respect pleasing The schoolmen are wont to vrge that a man may naturally loue God aboue all for seeing he naturally loueth that which appeareth vnto him to bee good why should he not loue God aboue all who is the chief good To this Luthers answer is this that there is a twofold loue for there is amor amicitiae amor concupiscentiae a loue whereby a man willeth the good of him that he loueth a loue whereby he desireth to make vse of the good of that hee loueth and to make it serue his turne In the first sort a man loueth his friend by the latter his horse now saith Luther it is true that euery sinfull man loueth God with the latter kind of loue desiring to make vse of God to serue his owne turne but it is not possible for a naturall man to loue God as a man loueth his friend that is to desire that God may rule raigne be glorified as God to rejoyce when his will is done though it be contrary to that we desire to bee grieued when he is offended And this surely is confirmed by Bernard for he saith that there are 4 degrees of loue For 1 a man loueth nothing but himself 2◠Heloueth other things amōgst other things God for himself finding that he cannot be without him Thirdly He loueth God for God Fourthly he loueth him selfe for God The two former are naturall and as I thinke finfull the two latter I am well assured in the iudgement of Saint Bernard proceede from grace and not from nature for hee sayth That is first that is naturall and then that which is spirituall and that scarce any of the elect of God goe beyond the first of these two latter degrees in this life So that according to that which before I alleadged out of Gregorius Ariminensis euery one that willeth any thing either willeth God or some other thing that is not God if God not for God but for some other thing expected to bee had from him or by him this is vti fruendis to make vse of that for the hauing of some thing as more loued that should be enjoyed as the best and most loued of all other things and this is most perverse as Saint Augustine telleth vs. If wee loue any thing else besides God and not for God it is likewise an iniquitie So that seeing naturally it is impossible to loue for God it is impossible to loue any thing rightly and consequently all the actions of naturall vnregenerate men are sinne And that they are so indeede it is proved by such authorities as may not be excepted against Cyprian de bono patientiae in principio sayth the true vertue of patience cannot be in Infidells now there is the same reason of one vertue and of all his words are these Hanc se sectari Philosophi quoque profitentur sed tam illis patientia est falsa quam falsa sapientia vnde enim vel sapiens esse vel patiens posset qui nec sapientiam nec patientiam Dei novit quando ipse de ijs qui sibi sapere in mundo videntur moneat dicat perdam sapientiam sapientum prudentiam prudentum reprobabo Augustine sayth Thou wilt say if a Gentile shall cloath the naked is it sinne because it is not of faith truely in that it is not of faith it is sinne not because the action of cloathing the naked in it selfe is sinne but to glory in such a worke and not in the Lord none but an impious man will deny to bee sinne If a Gentile that liueth not by fayth shall cloath the naked deliver him that is in daunger binde vp the wounds of him that is wounded bestow his goods to honest friendly purposes and shall not suffer himselfe to bee brought by any torments to beare false witnesse I aske of thee whether hee doe these good workes well or ill for if hee doe these things ill that are good thou canst not deny but that hee sinneth that doth any thing ill if thou say hee doth these good things and doth them well then an euill tree bringeth forth good fruite which he that is truth it selfe saith cannot bee If thou shalt say that a man that is an Infidell is a good tree then hee pleaseth God for that which is good cannot but please God who is good But Iulian the Pelagian answereth as the Papists doe at this day I acknowledge saith hee that they are steriliter boni that is their good is barren and bringeth forth no fruite who not doing the good things they do for God receiue not from him the reward of eternall life The answere of Saint Augustine is out of the 6 of Mathew If thine eye bee evill thy whole body shall bee full of darkenesse c Know that this eye is the intention with which every one doth that hee doth and learne by this that hee that doth not his good workes out of a good intention of a good faith that is of that faith that worketh by loue all the whole body that consisteth of such workes as members is full of darkenes that is the blacknes of sinnes Or truely because thou grantest that such workes of infidels as seeme to thee to bee good bring them not to eternall saluation and the kingdome of heaven know thou that we say that that good will that good worke by which onely a man may bee brought to the everlasting gift and kingdome of God can bee given to none without that grace that is given by him that is the only mediatour betweene God and man All other things that seeme to bee commendable amongst men let them seem to thee to bee true vertues let them seeme to thee to bee good workes and done without all sinne For my part this I know that the will is not good that doth them for an vnbeleeuing will and vngodly is not good Let these wills be according to thy iudgement good trees it sufficeth that with God or in Gods judgement they are barren and so not good Let them be fruitfull amongst men amongst whom also they are good vpon thy credit authority thy commendation thy planting if thou wilt haue it so so that I obtaine this whether thou wilt or not that the loue of this world whereby euery one is a friend of this world is not of God and that the loue that maketh a man injoy the creatures whatsoever they bee without
the virgin in the councell of Lateran But Cardinall Caietan writeth a learned discourse touching the same matter and offereth it to Leo praying him to be well aduised and in this tract for proofe of her conception in sin he produceth the testimonies of 15 canonized Saints For first S. Augustine writing vppon the 34 Psalme sayth that Adam died for sin that Mary who came out of the loynes of Adam died for sinne but that the flesh of the Lord which hee tooke of the virgin Mary died for to take away sin And in his 2d booke de baptismo parvulorum Hee only who ceasing not to be God became man neuer had sinne neither did he take the flesh of sin or sinfull flesh though hee tooke of the flesh of his mother that was sinfull And in his tenth booke de Genesi ad litteram he sayth Though the body of Christ were taken of the flesh of a woman that was conceiued out of the propagation of sinnefull flesh yet because hee was not soe conceiued of her as shee was conceiued therefore it was not sinnefull flesh but the similitude of sinnefull flesh And Saint Ambrose vppon those words Blessed are the vndefiled hath these words The Lord Iesus came and that flesh that was subiect to sinne in his mother performed the warrefare of vertue And Crhysostome vpon Mathew sayth Though Christ was no sinner yet hee tooke the nature of man of a woman that was a sinner And Eusebius Emissenus in his second sermon vpon the natiuity which beginneth Yee know beloued c. hath these words There is none free from the tie and bond of originall sinne no not the mother of the redeemer Saint Remigius vppon those words of the Psalme O God my God looke vpon mee sayth The blessed virgin Mary was made cleane from all staine of sinne that the man Christ Iesus might bee conceiued of her without sinne Saint Maximus in his sermon of the assumption of the blessed virgin sayth The blessed and glorious virgin was sanctified in her mothers wombe from all contagion of originall sinne before shee came to the birth and was made pure and vndefiled by the holy Ghost Saint Beda in his sermon vppon missus est and the same is in the ordinary glosse sayth that The holy spirit comming vpon the virgin freed her minde from all defiling of sinnefull vice and made it chast and purified her from the heate of carnall concupiscence tempering and cleansing her hart Saint Bernard in his epistle to them of Lyons sayth It is beleeued that the blessed virgin after her conception receiued sanctification while shee was yet in the wombe which excluding sinne made her birth holy but not her conception Saint Erardus a Bishoppe and a martyr in his sermon vpon the natiuity of the virgin crieth out O happie damsell which being conceiued in sinne is purged from all sinne and conceiueth a sonne without sinne Saint Anthony of Padua in his sermon of the natiuity of the blessed virgin sayth The blessed virgin was sanctified from sinne by grace in her mothers wombe and borne without sinne Saint Thomas Aquinas for he also was a canonized Saint in the third part of his summe quaest 27. art 2. sayth that the blessed virgin because shee was conceaued out of the commixtion of her parents contracted originall sinne Saint Bonauenture vppon the third of the sentences distinct 3. p. 1. artic 1. quaest 1. sayth Wee must say the blessed virgin was conceiued in originall sinne and that her sanctification followed her contracting of originall sinne this opinion is the more common the more reasonable and more secure More common for almost all hold it The more reasonable because the being of nature precedeth the being of grace The more secure because it better agreeth with the piety of faith and the authority of the Saints then the other Saint Bernardine in sermonum suorum opere tertio in his tract of the blessed virgin sermon the fourth sayth There was a third sanctification which was that of the mother of God and this taketh away originall sinne conferreth grace and remoueth the pronenesse to sinne mortally or venially Saint Vincentius the Confessor in sermone de conceptione virginis sayth The blessed virgin was conceaued in originall sinne but that the same day and houre she was purged by sanctification from sinne contracted so soone as euer shee had receiued the spirit of life And besides all these holden to bee Saints in the Church of Rome hee sayth there were a great multitude of auncient doctors who speaking particularly and distinctly of the virgin say shee was conceiued in originall sinne whose sayings who pleaseth may find in the originalls or may find them in the bookes of Iohannes de Turrecremata and Vincentius de Castro Nouo writing vpon the conception of the virgin whence they are taken Thus farre Caietan Bonauentura professeth that the opinion of the blessed virgins spotlesse conception was so new in his time that he had neuer read it in any author neither did he finde it to be holden by any one that he had euer seene or heard speak And Adam Angelicus sayth If the sayings of the Saints be to be beleeued wee must hold that the blessed virgin was conceiued in originall sin and none of the Saints is found to haue sayd the contrary Yet in time some beganne to bring in this opinion and to make it publike as Scotus and Franciscus de Maironis but very doubtfully and fearefully for Scotus hauing spoken of both opinions touching the conception of the virgin sayth in the conclusion that God onely knoweth which of them is the truer but if it be not contrary to the authority of the Church or of holy Scripture it seemeth probable to attribute that to the virgin that is more excellent And that indeede hee had reason to feare least hee should contrary the Fathers and holy men that went before it will easily appeare by that of the master of Sentences It may truely bee said and wee must beleeue according to the consenting testimonies of the Saints that the flesh which CHRIST tooke was formerly subiect to sinne as the rest of the flesh of the virgin but that it was soe sanctified and made pure and undefiled by the operation of the holy Ghost that free from all contagion of sinne it was vnited to the word But see how strangely things were carried this opinion which was vnknowne to the Church for more then a thousand yeares and at the first broaching of it had fewe patrons yet in time grewe to be so generally approued that almost all they of the Latine Church thought they did God good seruice in following this opinionâ—… many visions reuelations and miracles were pretended in fauour of it and the Councell of Basil decreed for it Bridget canonized for a Saint professed it had beene particularly revealed to her but Catharina Senensis a Prophetesse also and more authentically canonized then the former professed that the contrary
we should haue no greater certainty of things Diuine and revealed then such as humane meanes and causes can yeeld And so seeing wee can neuer bee so well perswaded of any man or multitude of men but that we may justly feare either they are deceiued or will deceiue if our faith depend vpon such grounds we cannot firmely vndoubtedly beleeue Nay it is consequent vpon this absurd opinion that the Children of the Church and they of the houshold of faith haue no infused or Diuine faith at all for that whatsoeuer is revealed by the God of truth is true the Heathens make no doubt but doubt whether any thing were so revealed and that any thing was so revealed if these men say true we haue no assurance but by humane meanes and causes But the absurdity hereof the same Canus out of Calvin doth very learnedly demonstrate reasoning in this sort If all they that haue beene our teachers nay if all the Angels in Heauen shall teach vs any other or contrary doctrine to that we haue receiued we must holde them accursed and not suffer our faith to bee shaken by them as the Apostle chargeth vs in the Epistle to the Galatians therefore our faith doth not rely vpon humane causes or grounds of assurance Ne mens nostra vacillet altius petenda quà m ab hominum vel ratione vel auctoritate scripturae authoritas Besides our faith and that of the Apostles and Prophets being the same it must needes haue the same object the same ground and stay to rest vpon in both but they builded themselues vpon the sure and vnmooueable rocke of Diuine truth and authority therefore we must doe so likewise If any man desire farther satisfaction herein let him reade Canus and Calvin to whom in these things Canus is much beholding Others therefore to avoide this absurdity run into that other before mentioned that we beleeue the things that are diuine by the meere and absolute command of our will not finding any sufficient motiues reasons of perswasion hereupon they define faith in this sort Fides est assensus firmus ineuideÌ„s that is faith is a firme certaine ful assent of the mind beleeuing those things the truth whereof no way appeareth vnto vs. For father explication and better clearing of this definition of faith they make two kindes of certainty for there is as they say certitudo evidentiae and certitudo adhaerentiae that is there is a certainty of evidence which is of those things the truth whereof appeareth vnto vs and another of adherence and firme cleauing to that the trueth whereof appeareth not vnto vs. This later they suppose to bee the certainty that is found in fayth and there vpon they hold that a man may beleeue a thing meerely because hee will without any motiues or reason of perswasion at all the contrary whereof when Picus Mirandula proposed among other his conclusions to bee disputed in Rome hee was charged with heresie for it But hee sufficiently cleared himselfe from all such imputation and improued their fantasie that so thinke by vnanswerable reasons which I haue thought good to lay downe in this place It is not sayth hee in the power of a man to thinke a thing to bee or not to bee meerely because hee will therefore much lesse firmely to beleeue it The trueth of the antecedent wee finde by experience and it evidently appeareth vnto vs because if a doubtfull proposition bee proposed concerning which the vnderstanding and minde of man resolueth nothing seeing no reason to leade to resolue one way or other the minde thus doubtfull cannot incline any way till there bee some inducement either of reason sight of the eye or testimony or authority of them wee are well conceipted of to settle our perswasion Secondly a man cannot assent to any thing or judge it to bee true vnlesse it so appeare vnto him but the sole acte of a mans will cannot make a thing to appeare and seeme true or false but either the euidence of the thing or the testimony and authority of some one of whose judgement he is well perswaded Thirdly though the action of vnderstanding quoad exercitium as to consider of a thing and thinke vpon it or to turne away such consideration from it depend on the will yet not quoad specificationem as to assent or dissent for these opposite and contrary kinds of the vnderstandings actions are from the contrary and different appearing of things vnto vs. Fourthly the sole command of the will cannot make a man to beleeue that which being demanded why hee beleeueth he giueth reasons and alledgeth inducements but so it is that in matters of our Christian faith we alledge sundry reasons mouing vs to beleeue as Christians doe as appeareth by the course of all Diuines who lay downe eight principall reasons moouing men to beleeue the Gospell namely the light of propheticall prediction the harmony and agreement of the Scriptures the diligence of them that receiued them carefully seeking to discerne betweene truth and errour the authority grauitie of the writers the reasonablenesse of the things written the vnreasonablenes of all contrary errours the stability of the Church and the miracles that haue beene done for the confirmation of the faith it professeth Fiftly if there be two whereof one beleeueth precisely because he will and another onely because hee will not beleeue refuseth to beleeue the same thing the acte of neither of these is more reasonable then the other being like vnto the will of a Tyrant that is not guided at all by reason but makes his owne liking the rule of his actions Now who is so impious to say The Christians that beleeue the Gospell haue no more reason to leade them so to doe then the Infidels that refuse to beleeue With Picus in the confutation of this senselesse conceipt wee may joyne Cardinall Cameracensis who farther sheweth that as a man cannot perswade himselfe of a thing meerely because hee will without any reason at all so hauing reason hee cannot perswade himselfe more strongly and assuredly of it then the reason hee hath will afforde for if hee doe it is so farre an vnreasonable acte like that of a Tyrant before mentioned Durandus likewise is of the same opinion Assentiri nullus potest nisi ei quod apparet verum igitur oportâ—…t quèd illud quòd creditur appareat rationi verum vel in se vel ratione mâ—…dij per quod assentitur si non in se sed tantùm ratione medij illud medium apparebit verum vel in se vel per aliud medium si non est processus in infinitum oportet quòd deueniatur ad primum quod apparet rationi esse verum in se secundum se That is No man can yeeld assent to any thing but that which appeareth to him to be true therefore whatsoeuer a man beleeueth must seeme and appeare vnto him to bee
mâ—…ch with many declamations against priuate interpretations and interpretations of private spirits and make the world beleeue that wee follow no other rule of interpretation but each mans private fancie For answere herevnto we say with Stapleton that interpretations of Scripture may be sayd to be private and the spirits whence they proceede named priuate either Ratione personae modi or finis That is in respect of the person who interpreteth the manner of his proceeding in interpreting or the end of his interpretation A priuate interpretation proceeding from a priuate spirit in the first sense is euery interpretation deliuered by men of priuate condition In the second sense is that which men of what condition soeuer deliuer contemning and neglecting those publike meanes which are knowen to all and are to be vsed by all that desire to finde the trueth In the third sense that which proceeding from men of priuate condition is not so proposed and vrged by them as if they would binde all other to receiue and imbrace it but is intended onely to their owne satisfaction The first kind of interpretation proceeding from a private spirit is not to be disliked if the parties so interpreting neither neglect the common rules meanes of attayning the right sense of that they interpret contemne the judgement of other men nor presumptuously take vpon them to teach others and enforce them to beleeue that which they apprehend for trueth without any authority so to doe But priuate spirits in the second sense that is men of such dispositions as will follow their owne fancies and neglect the common rules of direction as Enthusiasts and trust to their owne sense without conference and due respect to other mens judgements wee accurse This is all we say touching this matter wherein I would faine know what our aduersaries dislike Surely nothing at all as it will appeare to euery one that shall but looke into the place aboue alledged out of Stapleton But say they there must bee some authenticall interpretation of Scripture which euery one must bee bound to stand vnto or else there will be no end of quarrels and contentions The interpretation of Scripture is nothing else but the explication and clearing of the meaning of it This is either true or false The true interpretation of the Scripture is of two sorts For there is an interpretation which deliuereth that which is true and contayned in the Scripture or from thence to bee concluded though not meant in that place which is expounded This is not absolutely and perfectly a true interpretation because though it truely deliuereth such doctrine as is contayned in the Scripture and nothing contrarie to the place interpreted yet it doth not expresse that that is particularly meant in the place expounded There is therefore another kind of true interpretations when not onely that is deliuered which is contayned in the Scripture but that which is meant in the particular places expounded Likewise false interpretations are of two sorts some deliuering that which is vtterly false and contrary to the Scripture some others onely fayling in this that they attaine not the true sense of the particular places expounded An example of the former is that interpretation of that place of Genesis The sonnes of God saw the daughters of men c. which some of the Fathers haue deliuered vnderstanding by the sonnes of God the Angels of Heauen whose fall they suppose proceeded from the loue of women Which errour they confirme by that of the Apostle that women must come vayled into the Church for the Angels that is as they interpret least the Angels should fall in loue with them A false interpretation of the later kind Andradius sheweth some thinke that exposition of the wordes of the Prophet Esaie Quis enarrabit generationem eius Who shall declare his generation deliuered by many of the Fathers vnderstanding thereby the eternall generation of the son of God which no man shall declare Whereas by the name of generation the Prophet meaneth that multitude that shall beleeue in Christ which shall be so great as cannot be expressed An authenticall interpretation is that which is not only true but so clearely and in such sort that euery one is bound to imbrace and to receiue it As before we made 3 kinds of judgment the one of discretion common to all the other of direction common to the Pastors of the Church and a third of jurisdiction proper to them that haue supreame power in the Church so likewise wee make three kindes of interpretation the first private and so euery one may interpret the Scripture that is privately with himselfe conceiue or deliuer to other what hee thinketh the meaning of it to bee the second of publike direction and so the Pastors of the Church may publikely propose what they conceiue of it and the third of jurisdiction and so they that haue supreme power that is the Bishops assembled in a generall Councell may interpret the Scripture and by their authority suppresse all them that shall gainesay such interpretations and subject euery man that shall disobey such determinations as they consent vpon to excommunication and censures of like nature But for authenticall interpretation of Scriptures which every mans conscience is bound to yeeld vnto it is of an higher nature neither doe wee thinke any of these to be such as proceeding from any of those before named specified to whom wee graunt a power of interpretation Touching the interpretations which the Fathers haue deliuered we receiue them as vndoubtedly true in the generall doctrine they consent in and so farre forth esteeme them as authenticall yet doe wee thinke that holding the faith of the Fathers it is lawfull to dissent from that interpretation of some particular places which the greater part of them haue deliuered or perhaps all that haue written of them and to find out some other not mentioned by any of the Auncient CHAP. 17. Of the interpretation of the Fathers and how farre wee are bound to admit it THe Fathers sayth Andradius especially they of the Greeke Church being ignorant of the Hebrew tongue following Origen did rather striue with all their wit and learning to devise Allegories and to frame the manners of men then to cleare the hard places of the law and the Prophets Nay euen Hierome himselfe who more diligently then any of the rest sought out the meaning and sense of the Propheticall and diuine Oracles yet often to avoyde the obscurities of their words betaketh himselfe to Allegories In this sense it is that Cardinall Caietan saith hee will not feare to goe against the torrent of all the Doctors for which saying Andradius sheweth that Canus and others doe vnjustly blame him For though wee may not goe from the faith of the Fathers nor from the maine trueth of doctrine which they deliuer in different interpretations yet may wee interpret some parts of the Scripture otherwise then any
to posterities This may rightly be named a tradition not as if we were to beleeue any thing without the warrant and authority of the Scripture but for that wee neede a plaine and distinct explication of many things which are somewhat obscurely contayned in the Scripture which being explicated the Scriptures which otherwise we should not so easily haue vnderstood yeeld vs satisfaction that they are so indeede as the Church deliuereth them vnto vs. The fourth kind of tradition is the continued practise of such things as neither are contayned in the Scripture expressely nor the examples of such practise expressely there deliuered though the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of such practise be there contayned and the benefit or good that followeth of it Of this sort is the Baptisme of Infantes which is therefore named a tradition because it is not expressely deliuered in Scripture That the Apostles did baptize infants nor any expresse precept there found that they should so doe Yet is not this so receiued by bare and naked tradition but that wee find the Scripture to deliuer vnto vs the grounds of it The fift kind of traditions comprehendeth such observations as in particular are not commanded in Scripture nor the necessity of them from thence concluded though in generall without limitation of times and other circumstances such things be there commanded Of this sort many thinke the observation of the lent fast to be the fast of the fourth and the sixt dayes of the weeke and some other That the Apostles deliuered by liuely voyce many obseruations dispensable and alterable according to the circumstances of times and persons we make no question Onely this we say that they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions so that which they are doth hardly appeare and that they doe not necessarily binde posterities The custome of standing at prayer on the Lords day and betweene Easter and Whitsontinde was generally receiued as deliuered by Apostolique tradition and when some beganne to breake it is was confirmed by the Councell of Nice yet is it not thought necessary to be obserued in our time Out of this which hath beene sayd wee may easily resolue what is to bee thought touching traditions For first the Canon of scripture being admitted as deliuered by Tradition though the diuine truth of it be in it selfe cleare and euident vnto vs not depending of the Churches authority there is noe matter of faith deliuered by bare and onely tradition as the Romanists seeme to Imagine Yea this is so cleare that therein they contrary themselues indeauouring to proue by scripture the same things they pretend to hold by tradition as wee shall finde if wee run through the things questioned betweene them and vs. The onely cleare instance they seeme to giue is touching the perpetuall virginity of Mary which they say cannot be proued by scripture and yet is necessary to be beleeued But they should know that this is no point of Christian faith That shee was a Virgin before in and after the birth of Christ wee are bound to beleeue as an article of our faith and so much is deliuered in scripture and in the Apostles Creede but that shee continued so euer after is a seemely truth deliuered vnto vs by the Church of God fitting the sanctity of the blessed Virgin and the honour due to soe sanctified a vessell of Christs incarnation as her body was and soe is de pietate but not de necessitate fidei as the Schoole-men vse to speake Neither was Heluidius condemned of Heresie for the deniall hereof but because pertinaciously hee vrged the deniall of it vpon misconstruction of scripture as if the deniall of it had beene a matter of faith Touching this Allegation of our Aduersaries concerning Maries perpetuall Virginity wee must know that howsoeuer they pretend to hold it onely by tradition yet the Fathers that defend it against Heluidius endeauour to proue it by the Scripture Their instance of Childrens Baptisme is most apparantly against themselues for they confesse it may be proued by scripture Bellarmine proueth it by three reasons taken from the scripture The first is from the proportion betweene Baptisme and Circumcision the Circumcision of Children then and the Baptisme of them now This argument he saith as they propose it cannot be auoyded The second from these two places Iohn 3. Except a man be borne a new of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of Heauen And that other Suffer little children to come vnto mee for vnto such belongeth the Kingdome of Heauen This Argument he sayth is strong effectuall and pregnant to proue the necessity of the Baptisme of Infants The third is taken from the Baptizing of whole families by the Apostles in which by all likelihood there were infants Surely in this point of traditions our aduersaries bewray their great folly inconstancie making it euident to the whole world they know not what they say Bellarmine sayth that many things touching the matter and forme of sacraments are holden by tradition as not being contained in scripture and yet in the particulars there is nothing defined in the Church of Rome touching these things which he indeauoureth not to proue by scripture Some alleage for proofe of tradition the consubstantiality of the sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the holy Ghost from them both Others constantly affirme that these things are proued by scripture Some of them say Pugatory is holden by tradition others thinke it may bee proued by scripture g Melchior Canus endeauouring to proue the necessity of traditions produceth sundry things as not written as inuocation of Saints worshipping of images the Priests consecrating and partaking in both parts of the sacrament That ordination and confirmation are to bee conferred and giuen but onely once which when hee hath alleaged hee dareth not say the scripture doth not deliuer them for feare of gainesaying the truth in some of them and his owne fellowes in other And therefore hee sayth These things perhaps the scripture hath not deliuered For Bellarmine thinketh the Scripture doeth strongly proue the Invocation and worship of Saints and Angels and who is so impudent to deny that the Ministers of the Church are bound by the commaundement of Christ contayned in the Scripture to consecrate and participate in both parts of the Sacrament That confirmation and ordination once conferred are not to be reiterated may be concluded out of the nature of them described vnto vs in the Scripture So that for matters of faith wee may conclude according to the judgement of the best and most learned of our adversaries themselues that there is nothing to be beleeued which is not either expressely contayned in Scripture or at least by necessary consequence from thence and other things evident in the light of nature or in the matter of fact to bee concluded That there were many speeches and diuine sayings of our
none of them could erre in writing but if in them I find any thing that may seeme contrary to the trueth I perswade my selfe that either the Copie is corrupt or the interpreter defectiue and faultie or that the fault is in my not vnderstanding of it but other authors I so read that how great soeuer their learning sanctitie bee I doe not therefore thinke any thing to bee true because they haue so thought but because they perswade me that it is true by the authority of the Canonicall authors or the probability of Reason Besides the indubitate writings of those Canonicall Authours there are other bookes written of the same argument which because the credite and authority of the authors of them is not knowen are named Apocryphall Bookes are named Apocryphall first because the authour of them is not knowen and in this sense some of the Bookes of Canonicall Scripture as the bookes of Chronicles of Hester and a great part of the Psalmes may be named Apocryphall though vnproperly and vnfitly The authority of the authors of them not being doubted of though their names and other personall conditions be not knowen And therefore Andradius reprehendeth the Glosse which defineth those things to be Apocryphall quae incerto authore prodita sunt the author and publisher whereof is not knowen Secondly bookes are therefore named Apocryphall because the authority and credite of them is called in question it being doubted whether they proceeded from the inspiration of the holy spirit so that they cannot serue for the confirmation of any thing that is called in question In this seuse Hierome calleth the bookes of the Macchabees and the rest of that kinde Apocryphall though they were read privately and publikely for the edification of the people and the information of manners Thirdly such bookes are named Apocryphall as are meerely fabulous and full of impiety and therefore interdicted and forbidden to bee read or regarded at all The auncientest of the Fathers name these onely Apocryphall and so doth Hierome sometimes calling those of the second ranke Hagiographall though this name be sometimes giuen to those Canonicall bookes which pertaine not to the Lawe nor the Prophets as the booke of Iob the Psalmes the bookes of Salomon Esdras the Chronicles c. so diuiding the whole Canon of the Scripture of the old Testament into the Law the Prophets and the Hagiographall bookes that is those which not hauing any proper name of difference retaine and are knowen by the common name of holy writ CHAP. 23. Of the Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes of Scripture THe bookes of the old Testament were committed to the Church of the Iewes wherevpon that is one of the things in respect whereof the Apostle preferreth them before the Gentiles that to them were committed the Oracles of God This Church of the Iewes admitted but onely 22 bookes as deliuered vnto them from God to bee the Canon of their faith according to the nūber of the letters of their Alphabet as Iosephus sheweth For though they sometimes reckon foure and twenty and somtimes seuen and twenty yet they adde no more in one of these accounts than in the other For repeating Iod thrice for honour of the Name of GOD and so the number of the letters rising to foure and twenty they number the bookes of Canonicall Scripture to be foure and twenty dividing the booke of Ruth from the Iudges and the Lamentations from the Prophecies of Ieremy and reckoning them by themselues which in the former account they joyned with them These bookes thus numbred Hierome fitly compareth to the foure and twenty Elders mentioned in the Revelation Qui adorabant prostratis vultibus offerebant coronas suas Which prostrating themselues adored and worshipped the Lambe acknowledging that they receiued their Crownes of him Stantibus coram quatuor animalibus oculatis antè retrò in praeteritum futurum respicientibus Those foure admirable liuing creatures hauing eyes before and behind looking to things past and to come standing before him And because fiue of the Hebrew letters are double they sometimes reckon the bookes of the holy Canon so as that they make them rise to the number of seuen and twenty reckoning the first and second of Samuel of Kings of Chronicles and of Esdras by themselues seuerally which in the first accompt were numbred together two of euery of these being accompted but as one booke and dividing Ruth from the Iudges These onely did the auncient Church of the Iewes receiue as Divine and Canonicall That other bookes were added vnto these whose authority not being certain and knowne are named Apocryphall fell out on this sort The Iewes in their latter times before and at the comming of Christ were of two sorts some properly and for distinctions sake named Hebrewes commorant at Hierusalem and in the holy Land others named Helenists that is Iewes of the dispersion mingled with the Grecians These had written sundry bookes in Greeke which they made vse of together with other parts of the Old Testament which they had of the Translation of the Septuagint but the Hebrewes receiued onely the two and twenty bookes before mentioned Hence it came that the Iewes deliuered a double Canon of the Scripture to the Christian Churches the one pure indubitate and divine which is the Hebrew Canon the other in Greeke enriched with or rather adulterated by the addition of certain bookes written in those times when God raised vp no more Prophets among his people This volume thus mixed of diuers sorts of bookes the Christians receiued of the Iewes These bookes joyned in one volume were translated out of Greeke into Latine and read by them of the Latine Church in that Translation for there was no Catholique Christian that euer translated the Scriptures of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Latine before Hieromes time nor none after him till our age Hence it came that the Fathers of the Greeke Church hauing Origen and sundry other learned in the Hebrew tongue and making search into the antiquities and originals of the Iewes receiued as Canonicall onely the two and twenty bookes written in the Hebrew and did account all those books which were added in the Greeke to bee Apocryphall The Latines receiuing them both in one Translation and bound vp in one volume vsed sundry parts of the Apocryphall bookes in their prayers and readings together with the other and cited them in their writings yet did none of them make any Catalogue of Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes and number them amongst the Canonicall before the third Councell of Carthage wherein Augustine was present at which time also Innocentius liued which Fathers seeme to adde to the Canon diuers bookes which the Hebrewes receiue not Hierome translating the Scriptures out of the Hebrew and most exactly learning what was the Hebrew Canon rejected all besides the two and twenty Hebrew bookes as the Grecians did before
state But when Herod swaied the Scepter flue all those that he found to be of the bloud royall of Iudah and tooke away all power and authority that the Sanedrim formerly had then the Scepter departed from Iudah and the Law-giuer from betweene his feete so that then was the time for the Shiloh to come CHAP. 11. Of the manifestation of God in the flesh the causes thereof and the reason why the second Person in the Trinitie rather tooke flesh then either of the other GOd therefore in that fulnesse of time sent his Sonne in our flesh to sit vpon the throne of Dauid and to bee both a King and Priest ouer his house for euer concerning whom three things are to bee considered First his humiliation abasing himselfe to take our nature and become man Secondly the gifts and graces he bestowed on the nature of man when he assumed it into the vnitie of his Person Thirdly the things hee did and suffered in it for our good In the Incarnation of the Sonne of God we consider first the necessity that God should become man secondly the fitnesse and conuenience that the second Person rather then any other Thirdly the manner how this strange thing was wrought brought to passe Touching the necessity that God should become man there are two opinions in the Romane schooles For some thinke that though Adam had neuer sinned yet it had beene necessary for the exaltation of humane nature that God should haue sent his Sonne to become man but others are of opinion that had it not beene for the deliuering of man out of sinne and misery the Sonne of God had neuer appeared in our flesh Both these opinions sayth Bonauentura are Catholique and defended by Catholiques whereof the former seemeth more consonant to reason but the later to the piety of faith because neither Scripture nor Fathers doe euer mention the Incarnation but when they speake of the redemption of mankind soe that seeing nothing is to be beleeued but what is proued out of these it sorteth better with the nature of right beliefe to thinke the Sonne of God had neuer become the Sonne of man if man had not sinned then to thinke the contrary Venit filius hominis sayth Augustine saluum facere quod perierat Si homo non perijsset filius hominis non venisset nulla causa fuit Christo veniendi nisi peccatores saluos facere Tolle morbos tolle vuluera nulla est medicinae causa that is The Sonne of man came to saue that which was lost If man had not perished the sonne of man had not come there was no other cause of Christs comming but the saluation of sinners Take away diseases wounds and hurts and what neede is there of the Phisition or Surgeon Wherefore resoluing with the Scriptures and Fathers that there was no other cause of the incarnation of the Sonne of God but mans redemption let vs see whether so great an abasing of the sonne of God were necessary for the effecting hereof Surely there is no doubt but that Almighty God whose wisdome is incomprehensible and power infinite could haue effected this worke by other meanes but not soe well beseeming his truth and justice whereupon the Diuines doe shew that in many respects it was fit and necessary for this purpose that God should become man First ad fidem firmandam to settle men in a certaine and vndoubted perswasion of the truth of such things as are necessary to be beleeued vt homo fidentiùs ambularet ad veritatem sayth Augustine ipsa veritas Dei filius homine assumpto constituit fundauit fidem that is That man might more assuredly and without danger of erring approach vnto the presence of sacred truth it selfe the sonne of God assuming the nature of man setled and founded the faith and shewed what things are to be beleeued Secondly ad rectam operationem to direct mens actions for whereas man that might be seene might not safely be followed and God that was to bee imitated and followed could not be seene it was necessary that God should become man that hee whom man was to follow might shew himselfe vnto man and be seene of him Thirdly ad ostendendam dignitatem humanae Naturae to shew the dignitie and excellencie of humane nature that no man should any more soe much forget himselfe as to defile the same with finfull impurities Demonstrauit nobis Deus sayth Augustine quà m excelsum locum inter creaturas habeat humana natura in hoc quòd hominibus in vero homine apparuit that is God shewed vs how high a place the nature of man hath amongst his creatures in that he appeared vnto men in the nature and true being of a man Agnosce sayth Leo O Christiane dignitatem tuam diuinae consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conuersatione redire that is Take knowledge ô Christian man of thine owne worth and dignity and being made partaker of the diuine nature returne not to thy former basenesse by an vnfitting kind of life conuersation Lastly it was necessary the Sonne of God should become man ad liberandum hominem à seruitute peccati to deliuer man from the slauery and bondage of sinne For the performance whereof two things were to be done For first the justice of God displeased with sinne committed against him was to bee satisfied and secondly the breach was to be made vp that was made vpon the whole nature of man by the same neither of which things could possibly be perforned by man or Angell or by any creature For touching the first the wrath of God displeased with sinne and the punishments which in iustice he was to inflict vpon sinners for the same were both infinite because the offence was infinite and therefore none but a person of infinite worth value and vertue was able to endure the one and satisfie the other If any man shall say it was possible for a meere man stayed by diuine power and assistance to feele smart and paine in proportion answering to the pleasure of sin which is but finite and to indure for a time the losse of all that infinite comfort solace that is to be found in God answering to that aversion from God that is in sinne which is infinite and so to satisfie his justice he considereth not that though such a man might satisfie for his owne sinne yet not for the sinnes of all other who are in number infinite vnlesse his owne person were eminently as good as all theirs and vertually infinite Secondly that though he might satisfie for his owne actuall sin yet he could not for his originall sin which being the sin of nature cannot be satisfied for but by him in whom the whole nature of man in some principall sort is found Thirdly he considereth not that it is impossible that any sinner should of himselfe euer cease from sinning and that therefore seeing
downe the reasons brought on both sides and first that it was the true Samuel hee sheweth that these reasons are commonly brought First because the Scripture speaketh of him as of his very person not of any counterfeit likenes of him calling him not once but often by the name of Samuel Secondly for that it had bin a great dishonour irreuerence offered to Samuel if so often the Diuell should haue beene called by his name in holy Scripture Lastly for that it is said in Ecclesiasticus in the praise of Samuel the Prophet of God that he prophesied after his death that he afterwards slept againe and that he made known to King Saul his end the ouerthrow of his armies which prediction is not to bee imputed to a lying Spirit seeing hee so certainely foretold what was to come to passe On the other side he produceth these proofes First the Glosse vpon the 29 of Esay sayth the Pythonisse did not raise Samuel but euocated called out the Diuell in his likenesse Secondly it is not likely that God who would not answere Saul by liuing Prophets would send any from the dead to aduise or direct him Thirdly he that appeared vnto Saul sayd vnto him To morrow thou shalt be with me but Saul as a wicked man was to be in Hell the place of torments therefore he that appeared was so Fourthly he that appeared suffered Saul to worship him which true Samuel would not haue done seeing God onely is to be worshipped Fiftly if it were true Samuel that appeared either hee was raised by diuine power or by the power of magicall incantations if by diuine power God should very much haue fauoured magicall arts if at the inuocation of this Pythonisse hee had wrought such a miracle if by the power of Magicke then was he raised by the Diuell and that either with his consent and then he had done euill which he could not doe or without his consent which could not be seeing the Diuell hath no power to force the Saints of God after their death and departure hence Lastly he alleageth the authority of Augustine who bringing the reasons on both sides in the end inclineth rather to this later opinion and that in the Decrees Cap. Nec mirum c. adding that if that decree taken out of Augustine bee the decree of the Church noe man may thinke otherwise but if it be not as he thinketh it is not because Augustine out of whom it was taken disputeth the matter doubtfully and many of the Diuines since the compiling of that decree are of another opinion which they ought not to be if it were the decree of the Church he rather thinketh it was true Samuel that appeared then any counterfeit in his likenesse If any man desire to see the different opinions of the Fathers touching this point let him reade Tertullian in his booke de Animâ the 33 Chapter the annotations vpon the same place of Tertullian But howsoeuer whether it were true Samuel that appeared vnto Saul or a counterfeit in his likenesse I hope it is cleare and euident out of that which hath beene sayd that this apparition no way proueth the imagined Limbus of the Papistes There remaine yet two other places of Scripture to be examined that are brought for confirmation of the same but yealding as litle proofe as this The one is in the prophesies of Zacharie the other in the Epistle of S. Peter The words in the former place according to the Vulgar translation are these Thou in the blood of thy testament hast deliuered thy prisoners out of the Lake wherein there is no water But in the Originall the words are otherwise and Arias Montanus translateth the place otherwise in this sort And thou to wit Ierusalem in the blood of thy testament that is sprinkled with the blood â—…f thy testament reioyce and be glad I haue dismissed thy prisoners out of the lake wherein there is no water So that these words Thou in the blood of thy testament are not appliable vnto Christ but to Hierusalem and the other touching the dismissing of the prisoners out of the lake wherein is no water vnto God the Father who speaketh in this place to HierusaleÌ„ coÌ„cerning Christ her King coÌ„forteth her saying Rejoyce o Daughter of Sion be glad ô Daughter of Hierusalem for behold thy King commeth vnto thee meeke riding on an Asse vsed to the yoke and the fole of an Asse I will destroy the Charriot froÌ„ Ephraim and the Horse from Hierusalem He shall destroy the bowes of the fighters and the multitude and publish peace to the nations He shall rule from Sea to Sea and from the riuer to the end of the Land And thou to wit Hierusalem in the blood of thy testament that is sprinkled with the blood of thy testament reioyce and be glad I haue dismissed thy Prisoners out of the lake wherein there is no water Thus wee see this place according to the Originall verity and the translation of Arias Montanus maketh nothing for the confirmation of that for proofe whereof it is brought Yea though we should follow the Vulgar Translation and take the words to be spoken by Almighty God to Christ his Sonne yet could not our aduersaries proue Limbus out of this place For the Author of the Glosse and many other following the Vulgar Translation vnderstand these words of the deliuerance of the people of God out of the captiuity of Babylon which was as a deepe pit hauing in it no water but mire wherein their feete stucke fast And Hierome himselfe though he vnderstand the words of Christs descending into hel yet mentioneth the other interpretation also in the same place not much disliking it Neither doth his interpretation of Christs descending into Hell proue Limbus For hee speaketh of the prison of Hell where is no mercie calleth it a cruell or fearefull Hell not of Limbus patrum or Abrahams bosome Bellarmine cunningly after his manner to discredite our interpretation of deliuerance out of Babylonicall captivitie maketh as if Caluine onely had expounded the wordes of the holy Prophet in that sort whereas yet many excellent Diuines long before Caluine was borne interpreted them in the very same sort as we doe But if the challenge of novelty faile he betaketh himselfe to another of absurditie improbabilitie pronouncing that our Interpretation hath no probabilitie first because in the wordes immediatly going before there is a prophesie concerning Christ vttered vnto Hierusalem in these words Reioyce O daughter of Sion for behold thy King commeth c. Which the Evangelists expound of Christs comming into Hierusalem and then secondly an Apostrophe to Christ in the words questioned But first heerein he is deceiued for the speech of Almighty God to his Church begun in the former words is still continued in these shewing what fauours for Christs fake he had still meant to bestow on her whereas
to him THAT there was no more power and authoritie in Peter then in any of the rest I hope it appeareth by that which hath beene said and therefore it remaineth that now wee examine what was the reason why so many thinges were specially spoken to him why so many wayes hee may seeme to haue beene preferred before the rest and what in trueth and in deede his preeminence and primacie was Touching the speeches of Christ for the most part specially directed to Peter it is most certaine by that which hath beene said that they did giue no singular and speciall power to Peter that was not giuen to euery of the rest And therefore the Diuines doe obserue the difference of the speeches of Christ and note that Christ sometimes directed his speech to particular men precisely in their owne persons as in the remission of sinnes healing the sicke and raising the dead sometimes in the person of all or many others as when he saith Goe and sinne no more which hee is intended to haue done so often as there is the same reason of speaking a thing to one and to others as when a man is induced to doe or not to doe a thing to beleeue or not to beleeue a thing which other in like sort are bound to doe or not to doe to beleeue or not to beleeue as well as hee So it being as necessary for one to watch as another Christ saith That I say vnto you I say vnto all Watch. And so here seeing it is confessed and proued by our Aduersaries themselues that there was nothing promised or performed to Peter that was not in like sort intended vnto and bestowed on euery of the rest it must be graunted that what he spake to him he meant to all and would haue his words so vnderstood and taken The reason why more specially notwithstanding this his generall intendment he directed his speech to Peter then to any of the rest was either because he was more auncient and more ardent in charitie then the rest thereby to signifie what manner of men they should be that should be chosen Pastours of the Church namely men of ripe age and confirmed judgement and full of charitie or lest hee might seeme to bee despised for his deniall of Christ which the Glosse seemeth to import when it saith Trinae negationi redditur trina confessio ne minus amori lingua seruiat quám timori that is Therefore he was induced by Christ thrice solemnly to protest and professe his loue vnto him as he had thrice denied him that his tongue might shew it selfe no lesse seruiceable vnto loue that rested in him then it had done vnto feare or else because he first confessed Christ to bee the Sonne of the liuing God consubstantiall with his Father because he was much conuersant with Christ and acquainted with his secrets counsels or lastly because Christ meant there should bee a certaine order amongst the guides of his Church and some to whom the rest in all places should resort in all matters of importance as to such as are more honourable then other of the same ranke degree who are first to be consulted from whom all actions must take their beginning therefore he so specially spake to Peter whom hee meant in this sort to set before the rest Thus then there is a primacie of power when one hath power to doe that act of ministerie another hath not or not without his consent and when one may by himselfe limite restraine or hinder another in the performance of the acts of ministery and such primacie wee haue shewed not to haue beene in Peter But there is another of order honour which he had whereby he had the first place the first and best employment the calling together of the rest in cases where a concurrence of many was required as for the better sorting out of the worke they had in hand the ioynt decreeing of things to be euery where alike beleeued and practised and in these assemblies thus called the sitting speaking first the moderation and direction of each mans speaking and the publishing and pronouncing of the conclusion agreed vpon if so he pleased In this sense Cyprian saith Erant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris potestatis fed exordium ab vnitate proficiscitur that is The other Apostles doubtlesse were that which Peter was hauing the same fellowship both of power and honour but the beginning proceedeth from vnity that the Church may be shewed to be one And in the same sense Hierome saith against Iouinian Thou wilt say the Church is founded vpon Peter it is true it is so and yet in another place the same frame of the Church is raised vpon all the Apostles and all receiue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and the firmenesse of the Church stayeth it selfe equally vpon them all but therefore doth Christ more specially promise to build his Church vpon Peter that hee being constituted and appointed head chiefe amongst them all occasion of Schisme might bee taken away To the same purpose it is that Leo writeth to Anastasius where hee saith Inter beatissimos Apostolos in similitudine honor is fuit quaedam discretio potestatis cum omnium par esset electio vni tamen datum est vt caeteris preemineret that is Amongst the most blessed Apostles like in honour there was a certaine difference of power and when all were equally elected yet it was giuen to one to haue a preeminence amongst the rest In which saying of Leo that it bee not contrary to that of Cyprian who saith that the Apostles were companions and consorts equall both in honour power wee must not vnderstand that one Apostle had more power then another or that power another had not but that in the same power one was so before the rest that hee was the partie to whom they were to resort and without consulting whom first and before all other they might attempt nothing generally concerning the state of the whole Church by vertue of this power In which sense he saith in another place Petro praecaeteris soluendi ligandi tradita est potestas that is The power of binding and loosing was so giuen to Peter that therein hee was before the rest and againe Siquid cum eo commune caeteris Christus voluit esse principibus nunquam nisi per ipsum Petrum dedit quicquidaliis non negavit that is If Christ would haue any thing to be common to the rest of the Princes that is Apostles with Peter he neuer gaue that which he vouchsafed vnto them any otherwise then as by Peter which words must not so bee vnderstood as if Peter had first receiued the fulnesse of power and others from him for all the Apostles receiued their power and commission immediatly from Christ not from Peter as I haue largely
Clergie-men from the execution of their offices but farther they might not goe But in case of obstinate continuance of disordred persons in their misdemeanors notwithstanding these proceedings they were to complaine to the Bishop if the matter required hast or otherwise to the next Episcopall Synode For the Bishop in each diocese hauing certaine thus appointed to assist and helpe him in the superuision of the rest as well of the Clergie as the people was once in the yeare to hold a Synode with the chiefe of his Prelates Deanes rurall and other worthy men Annis singulis saith Gratian Episcopus in suá Diocesi Synodum faciat de suis Clericis Abbatibus 〈◊〉 alteros Clericos Monachos that is Let the Bishop euery yeare hold a Synode in his Diocese of his Clerkes and Abbots and let him therein discusse and examine the learning conuersation behauiour of other Clerkes Monkes The Synode of Coleiâ—…e vnder Adolphus confirmed by Charles the fifth appointed this Diocesane Synode to be holden twise euery yeare according to the old manner custome And the Synode of Coleine vnder Hermannus ordaineth that the Bishop or his Officiall generall with the Prelateâ—… of the Metroropoliticall Cathedrall Collegiate Churches especially the Arch-deacons Deanes rurall who in some part are taken into the fellowship of the Bishops cares shall enquire into things out of order what he shall find by their iudgment to need reformation he shall with their aduice amend reforme The like doth Laurentius the Popes Legate decree and ordaine Yea the Councell of Tâ—… confirmeth the same also and the Councell of Coleine vnder Adolphus taketh order that Deanes of colledges comming to the Episcopall Synode in the name of their colledges rurall Deanes in the name of the parish ministers within their diuisioÌ„s shall haue their charges borne by such their colledges ministers according to the nuÌ„ber of daies the Synode endureth seeing they go on warfare for God The forme of holding a Diocesane Synode Iouerius out of Burchardus describeth in this sort At a coÌ„uenieÌ„t hower wheÌ„ it seemeth good to the B or his vicegerent all other doores being locked let the Ostiaries staÌ„d at that by which the Presbyters are to enter coÌ„ming together let theÌ„ go in sit according to their ordinatioÌ„ after these the approued Deacons which order shall require to be present let some lay-men also of good coÌ„uersation be brought in and then let the Bishop or his substitute enter who entring into the Synode is first to salute the clergie and people and then turning towards the East to say a certaine prayer the Deacons to read the Gospel When it was late the first day of the 〈◊〉 and the dores were shut c after which reading and praiers all are to go out saue the Presbyters and clerkes only after departure of the rest another prayer being made the Bishop shall will the Presbyters to propose their doubts and either to learne or teach and to make known their complaints that so they may receiue satisfaction This is all that is done the first day The second day if the clergie haue no matter of complaint or doubt let the Laitie bee let in to propose their doubts and make knowne their grieuances or otherwise let their comming in be deferred till some other day Besides this Synode which euery Bishoppe was to hold once euery yeare he was to goe from Church to Church and see all the Churches in his Diocese The secoÌ„d councell of Bracar appointeth that the Bishop shall go through all his Churches enforming both Presbyters and people and the third councell of Arles prescriâ—…th that he shall enquire take notice of the wrongs offered to those of meane poore estate by them that are great and in authoritie and first seeke to reforme such euils by Episcopall admonition and counsell but if he cannot so prevaile hee shall acquaint the King with it The Bishop saith the fourth Councell of Toledo must goe euery yeare through his Diocese and see all his Churches and parishes that he may enquire what reparations the churches doe neede and what other things bee amisse But if he be either detained by sicknesse or so intangled with businesse that he cannot goe let him send some approued presbyters or Deacons which may not onely consider of the ruines of each church and the needfull reparations thereof but enquire also into the life and conversation of the clergie and ministers According to the decree and direction of this Councell we shall finde that Bishops hindered by other employments sicknesse weaknes or age so that they could not go in person to visite their churches sent some of their chiefe Presbyters or Deacons but especially the chiefe Deacons to performe the worke of visitation for them because they being the chiefe among the Deacons which are but church-seruants were more attendant about them for dispatch of all publicke businesses then presbyters These chiefe Deacons or Arch-Deacons at first they sent onely to visite and to make report but not to sententiate any mans cause or to meddle with the correcting or reforming of any thing but afterwardes in processe of time they were authorized to heare and determine the smallest matters and to reforme the lighter and lesser offences and therefore in the Councell of Laterane vnder Alexander the third it is ordered that the Arch-deacon shall not giue sentence against any one But in the Councell of Rhoane it is appointed that the Arch-Deacon and Arch-presbyter shall bee fore-runners to the Bishoppe and shall reforme the lighter and smaller things they finde to bee amisse Hence in time it came that Arch-Deacons much vsed by Bishops as most attendant on them in the visitation of their churches and reforming some smaller disorders at length by prescription claimed the correction of greater things as hauing of long time put themselues into the exercise of such authoritie And thus the Deacons or at least the chiefe of them the Arch-Deacons which at first might not sit in the presence of a presbyter but being willed by him so to doe in the end became by reason of this their imployment by the Bishoppe to bee greater not onely then the ordinary presbyters but then the Arch-presbyters themselues And therefore it is confessed by all that the Arch-deacon hath no authoritie or power of Iurisdiction by vertue of his degree order but by prescription onely neither can hee claime more then hee can prescribe for which his prescription is thought reasonable because the Bishop is supposed to haue consented to his intermedling in such parts of gouernement as by prescription hee may claime Yet lest it might seeme absurd for him that is onely a Deacon to exercise Iurisdiction ouer presbyters the canon of the Church prouideth that no man shall possesse the place of an Arch-Deacon vnlesse he haue the ordination of a presbyter Besides the Deanes or Arch-presbyters which
the Bishops vsed for the gouerning and ouer-seeing of certaine parts of their Diocese allotted to them with such limitations as they pleased for counsell aduise in managing of their weightiest affaires and the Arch-deacons which they vsed as spies in all places and trusted with the dispatch of what they thought fit they had for their direction in cases of doubt and for their ease in the multiplicitie of their employments certaine of their cleargie skilfull in the canons and Lawes of the Church whom they vsed as Officials to heare all manner of causes and matters of instance betweene party party but suffered them not to meddle in the censuring and punishing of criminall things or in any matter of office but in case of absence or sicknesse they had Vicars generall that might doe any thing almost that pertaineth to the Bishops Iurisdiction The former are not onely named Officials but Chauncellours though the name of Chauncellour bee not in this sense so auncient as the former Cancellarius originally and properly signifieth a Notarie or Secretarie because these for the preseruing of their writings and notes of remembrance were wont to sit and write Intra cancellos that is Within certaine places inclosing them made in the manner of Checquer-worke But from hence in time it came to be vsed for any one that is employed for the giuing of answere vnto sutors for keeping of Records and notes of remembrance and generally for the performance of some principall duties pertayning to him whose Chauncellour he is said to be CHAP. 30. Of the forme of the gouernment of the Church and the institution and authority of Metropolitanes and Patriarches THis being the forme of gouernment of each Diocese and particular Church let vs consider what dependance or subordination such particular Churches haue For it cannot nor may not be imagined that each Diocese or particular church is absolutely supreme and subiect to no higher authority The Papists are of opinion that Christ constituted and appointed one chiefe Pastour with vniuersality of power as his Vicegerent generall vpon earth placed him in the chiefe City of the world and set him ouer all the other both Bishops and Churches But the auncient Fathers are of another opinion For Hierome pronounceth that all Bishops are equall in order office and ministery whether of Rome Eugubium Tanais or Constantinople howsoeuer riches and magnificence of Churches and cities may make one seeme to be greater then another and Cyprian speaketh to the same purpose saying Let no Bishop make himselfe a Iudge of other euery one hauing receiued his authority from Christ and therefore being accountant to him onely And this he speaketh vpon occasion of a difference betweene him and the Romane Bishops of that time about rebaptization Wherefore let vs examine these contrary opinions and see which of them is most agreeable vnto truth and reason For the confirmation of the former of these two opinions the Romanists alledge many things to proue that the best forme of Regiment and gouernment is a Monarchie and consequently that Christ who vndoubtedly established the best forme appointed one supreme Monarch in his Church To this allegation Ockam most excellently and learnedly answereth in his Dialogues shewing and prouing at large that though the gouernment of one or a Monarchie be the best forme of Regiment in one citty or country as Aristotle rightly teacheth yet it is not the best forme of policie and gouernment in respect of the whole world and all the parts of it so farre distant remote one from another because the whole world and the infinite different countreyes and regions of it regularly may be better gouerned by many whereof no one is superiour to other then by one alone neither is the same forme of gouernment alwayes most expedient for the whole and for each part for greater circuits and for straighter or narrower bounds seeing one man may susteine the burthen of hearing determining and dispatching the greater causes more important matters in one kingdome or countrey but no one can so manage the weightiest businesses of the whole world And that in like sort though it be expedient that there should bee one Bishop ouer some part of the Church and people of God yet there is not the same reason that there should bee one ouer the whole seeing no one canne dispatch the greater businesses and manage the weightier affaires of the whole Christian world Besides he saith it would bee most dangerous that there should be any such one supreme ruler of the whole Church for that if he should fall into errour or heresie all the whole world would bee in great danger to bee seduced the members for the most part conforming themselues to their head and the inferiours to their rulers and superiours That which Ockam saith may be confirmed by the authority of Saint Augustine who thinketh a Monarchie or the gouernment of one supreme ruler most fit for the seuerall countries and parts of the world but not for the whole His words are Feliciores essentres humanae si omnia Regnaessent parua concordi vicinitate laetantia that is The state of worldly things would bee much more happy if the whole world were diuided out into small kingdomes joyfully conspiring together in a friendly neighbourhood then if all should be swayed by one supreme commander Thus then wee deny not but that amongst all the simple and single formes of government a Monatchie is the best for each country and people neither doth Caluine contradict vs herein as Bellarmine seemeth to report for hee doth not simply say that amongst all the simple formes of gouernment Aristocratie is best and to bee preferred but onely in the respect of often declinings and swaruings of absolute Kings hardly moderating themselues so in so free and absolute a liberty of commaunding all as that their wils should neuer swarue from that which is right and good But Bellarmine himselfe thinketh that the mixt formes of gouernment are to bee preferred before any of those simple formes of Monarchy Aristocratie and Democratie as having in them the best that is found in every of those single and simple formes And such is the gouernment of the Church of God Christ vndoubtedly establishing the best forme of gouernment in the same For the gouernment of each Diocese particular Church resteth principally in one who hath an eminent peerelesse power without whom nothing may be attempted or done yet are there others joyned with him as assistants without whose counsell aduice and consent he may doe nothing of moment and consequence whom hee cannot at his pleasure displace and remoue from their standings or depriue them of their honour or any way hardly censure them of himselfe alone but in the case of a Deacon hee must haue two other Bishops to concurre with him and in the case of a Presbyter fiue without which concurrence he may not proceed against
nothing of the dependance of all other Churches on the Church of Rome in their faith and profession nor that all Churches haue kept the faith in that Church that is in cleauing to it as to their Head and Mother as Bellarmine vntruly fansieth But all that is heere saide is nothing else but that vndoubtedly the same faith was giuen and deliuered to all other Churches that was deliuered by blessed Peter and Paul to the Church of Rome the chiefest of all The two next Greeke Fathers that are produced to testifie for the supremacie are Epiphanius and Athanasius who report that Vrsacius and Valens sworne enemies of Athanasius repenting them of their former errours came to Iulius Bishop of Rome to giue an account and to seeke fauour and reconciliation Surely the producing of such testimonies as these are is nothing else but meere trifling and they that bring them know right well that they no way proue the thing questioned the circumstances of this narration touching Vrsacius and Valens are these The cause of Athanasius as himselfe testifieth was first heard in his own Province by an hundred Bishops and he there acquitted Secondly at Rome by more then fiftie Bishops at the desire of Eusebius his Adversary and lastly at Sardica by three hundred Bishops where he was likewise acquitted To the decrees of this Synode Vrsacius and Valens his enemies making shew of repentance subscribed confessing they had played the Sycophants neither rested they there but they wrote to Iulius Bishop of Rome to testifie their repentance and to desire reconciliation and likewise to Athanasius himselfe It were strange if any man could proue the absolute supreme power cōmanding authority of the Bishop of Rome ouer all the world by this testimony wherin nothing is foūd of submissiō to Iulius or of seeking his fauor cōmuniō more then the fauour and communion of Athanasius and all other Catholique Bishops adhering to him The Epistle of Athanasius to Felix Bishop of Rome is a meere counterfeit as that worthy and renowned Iuel hath proued at large by vnanswerable demonstrations and therefore it needeth no answere The allegation of the accusation of Dionysius of Alexandria to Dionysius of Rome joyned with it by Bellarmine is of the very same stampe and yet if it were not proueth nothing against vs. For there is no question but that in matter of faith men may accuse any erring Bishop to the Bishop of Rome and his Westerne Bishops and that they may iudge and condemne such a one though the Pope be not supreme head of the Church The fifth Greeke Father that they alledge is Basil who as they say in an Epistle to Athanasius attributeth to the Bishop of Rome authority to visit the Churches of the East to make decrees and to reuerse the decrees of generall Councels such as that of Ariminum was Truly to say no more the alledging of this testimony sheweth they haue very little conscience that alledge it For these are the circumstances of Basils Epistle whereof let the Reader iudge Basil writing to Athanasius whom hee highly commendeth for that whereas other thinke it well if they take care of their owne particular churches his care was no lesse for the whole church then for that which was specially committed to him aduiseth him that the onely way to settle things put out of order in the Easterne churches by the Arrians were the procuring of the consent of the Westerne Bishops if it were possible to intreat them to interpose themselues for that vndoubtedly the rulers would greatly regard and much reuerence the credit of their multitude and people euery where would follow them without gainesaying But seeing this which was rather to be desired would not in likelihood easily be obtained he wisheth that the Bishop of Rome might be induced to send some of good discretion and moderation who by gentle admonitions might pacifie the mindes of men and might haue all things in readinesse that concerned the Arimine Councell necessary for the dissoluing and shewing the inualidity of the acts of that Councell I doubt not but the Reader vpon the bare view of these circumstances will easily perceiue that this Epistle of Basill maketh very much against their opinion that alledge it For hee preferreth and rather wisheth a Councell then the Popes owne interposing of himselfe if there had beene any hope of a Councell Besides these whom the Pope was to send were not to proceed iudicially and by way of authority but by intreaty and gentle admonitions to pacifie the mindes of men therefore here is nothing of visiting the Churches of the East or voiding the acts of the Councell of Ariminum by way of sentence and formall proceeding as Bellarmine vntruly reporteth but onely a reaching forth of the hand of helpe to the distressed parts of the Church by them that were in better state and a manifesting or declaring of the inualidity of that Councell the vnlawfull proceedings of it and the reasons why it neither was nor euer ought to be admitted The sixth Greeke Father brought to be a witnesse of the Popes supremacie is Gregorie Nazianzen who saith that the Romane Church did euer hold the right profession as it becommeth the citty which is ouer all the world This testimony is no lesse abused then the former as it will easily appeare to him that will take the paines to view the place alledged Nature saith Nazianzene doth not affoord two Suns yet are there two Romes the lights of the whole world the old and the new seate of the Empire The one of these lights appeareth at the rising and the other at the setting of the Sunne and both iointly send forth a most excellent glittering brightnesse The faith of the one was a long time and now is right knitting and ioyning the West to the sauing word of Life as it is fitte the Mistresse and Lady of the world should be In which words it is euident that hee speaketh of the greatnesse of the cittie of Rome in respect of her ciuill and temporall soueraignty and not in respect of the spirituall power of the Church and therefore it is strange that Bellarmine should deny the same For though in the time of Nazianzen the Emperour made his abode for the most part at Constantinople and not at Rome yet he calleth Rome the Mistresse of the world in respect of the ciuill state thereof as appeareth in that he speaketh of two famous cities two lights of the world and nameth the one the old Seate and the other the new Seate of the Empire The seuenth Greeke Father is Chrysostome who if we may beleeue Bellarmine being deposed by Theophilus Bishoppe of Alexandria and put from the Bishopricke of Constantinople in a Councell of Bishops writeth to the Bishop of Rome by his authority to voyde the sentence of Theophilus and to punish him whence it will follow that Chrysostome acknowledged the Romane Bishop to bee supreme Iudge of
Cornelius The fourth in the eighth Epistle of the first booke ad plebem vniversam Out of the first of these places they will proue that hee maketh Peter Head of the whole Church Out of the second that there is one High Priest one supreme Iudge in the Church whom all men are bound to obey Out of the third that Cornelius was Head of all Catholiques Out of the fourth that there is one singular Chaire in the Church wherein he sitteth that must teach all To euery of these allegations I will answere in order and make it most cleare and evident that none of the things imagined by the Cardinall can possibly bee concluded out of any of the fore-named places For to beginne with the first whosoeuer will but reade ouer Cyprians booke of the vnity of the Church shall most certainely and vndoubtedly finde that hee speaketh not in that book of Peters headship of the vniuersall Church as the Iesuite fansieth but of the head originall and first beginning of Pastorall commission Which that it may the better appeare I will as briefely as possibly I can lay downe the most principall and materiall circumstances of the whole discourse of that booke written vpon occasion of the Schisme of the Nouatians The first thing that occurreth in the whole discourse of the booke is the authors obseruation of the endlesse malice of Satan who when he found the Idols of the Gentiles wherein he was wont to be worshipped to be forsaken his Seates Temples deserted almost all professing to belieue in Christ Haereses inuenit Schismata quibus subuerteret fidem veritatem corrumperet scinderet vnitatem that is Found out Heresies and Schismes by which he might subvert the Faith corrupt the verity and cut in sunder the vnity so that Quos detinere non potest in viae veteris coecitate circumscribit decipit noui itineris errore that is Whom he cannot hold in the blindnesse and darkenes of the old way those he circumuenteth and beguileth by making them erre goe aside and not hold on the right course of their journey in the new way that leadeth to life In the second place he sheweth that this so falleth out and that men are soe beguiled and misse-led into Schismes Heresies because they returne not backe to the first origine of truth because they seeke not the head nor keepe the doctrine of the heauenly Maister which if a man would consider and thinke of he should not neede to seeke out many arguments nor fetch any great compasse about but the truth would easily without any great search offer it selfe vnto him For therefore did Christ when hee was to lay the foundations of the Christian Church say specially to Peter Thou art Peter vpon this Rocke will I build my Church I will giue to thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen and againe after his resurrection Feede my sheepe because though rising againe from the dead he gaue like power to all the Apostles when he sayd As my Father sent me so send I you whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained yet he would by speaking specially to one by appointing one chaire shew what vnity should be in the Church The rest of the Apostles sayth Cypriā were vndoubtedly the same that Peter was equall in honour power but therefore did Christ in the first place giue or at least promise to giue specially particularly to one that Apostolique cōmissiō which he meant also to giueto the rest that hee might thereby shew that the Church must be one and that there must be but one Episcopall chaire in the world All the Apostles say the Cyprian are Pastours but the flock of Christ is but one which they are to feed with vnanimous cōsent There is but one body of the Church one spirit one hope of our calling one Lord one Faith one baptisme one God This vnity all men must endeauour to keepe especially Bishops that they may make it appeare that there is but one Bishoply commission in the Christian Church Cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur that is Whereof euery one indifferently and in equall sort hath his part Here is nothing that proueth the vniuersality of the Papall power or that Peter was by Christ made head of the whole Church But this place most mainely ouerthroweth that supposed Headship For Cyprian teacheth that Christ meant to giue equall power and authority to all his Apostles and that the reason why intending no more to one then to the rest yet he more specially directed his speech to one then to the rest was onely to shew that there must be an vnity in the Church which he settled in that beginning with one from him he proceeded to the rest not meaning that the rest should receiue any thing from him but that from himselfe immediately they should receiue that in the second place which he had first and that they should receiue the same commission together with him into which he was first put that they might know him to be the first of their company In this sense Innocentius sayth A Petro ipse Episcopatus tota authoritas nominis huius emersit that is The Bishoply office and the whole authority of this name and title tooke beginning from Peter whom he sayth all Bishops must respect as Sui nominis honoris authorem that is as the first and originall of their name and honour And Leo in like sort Huius muner is sacramentum ita Dominus ad omnium Apostolorum officium voluit pertinere vt in beatissimo Petro Apostolorū omnium summo principaliter collocaret v◅ ab ipso quasi quodam capite dona sua velut in corpus omne diffunderet that is The Lords will was that the mystery of this heauenly gift commission and imployment should so pertaine to the ministery office of all the Apostles that yet he would first and principally place it in most blessed Peter the greatest of all the Apostles that soe beginning with him as the head and first hee might proceede from him to poure forth his gifts into all the body But sayth Bellarmine Cyprian speaketh of another head of the Church besides Christ and maketh the Church that so enlargeth it selfe and hath so many parts yet to be one in this roote and head as the beames are many but the light is one as the boughes are many but the tree is one the riuers are many but the fountaine is one It is strange that a man of his learning and judgement should so mis-conceiue things as he seemeth to doe For it is most euident to any one that will but take the paines to peruse the place that Cyprian speaketh not of a distinct head of the Church different from Christ and appointed by him to gouerne the Church but of the originall first beginning and head of the commission the Pastours of the Church haue
say nothing of this excommunication but report the repulse which the messengers the Romane Bishop sent to the Emperour to procure a Councell receiued and Theophilus for ought I know was euer holden a catholicke Bishop both by Hierome and others to his dying day notwithstanding these quarrells betweene him and Chrysostome The excommunication of Leo the Emperour by Gregory the third whereof Zonaras writeth in the life of Leo Isaurus which is a third instance of Papall censures against the great men of the world proueth not the matter in question For Gregory did not anathematize Leo of himselfe alone but with a Synode of Bishops neither was he able by his owne authority to stay the Tribute that was wont to be payd to the Emperour but by his sollicitation procured a confederacie of the French and Germans against the Emperours of Constantinople and by their meanes stayed the Tribute that was wont to be paid wherevpon the Germans and French possessed Rome and became Lords of it The last example is that of Nicholas the first excommunicating Lotharius King of France and his concubine Valdrada together with the Arch-bishops of Coleyn Treuers But the answere herevnto is easie For first this example proueth not the thing in qâ—…estion to wit that the Pope hath an vniuersall power ouer all the world seeing all these were within the Patriarchship of the Bishop of Rome And secondly wee say these circumstances of this proceeding are vntruely reported by Bellarmine For this is the true report which wee finde in Rhegino and others Lotharius King of Lorrayne falling in loue with Valdrada which had beene his concubine while hee was yet a young man in his fathers house beganne to dislike Thietberga his wife Hereupon hee laboureth with the Bishops of Treuers and Coleyn to finde some meanes to put her away They call a Synode wherein Thietberga is charged to haue committed incest with her owne brother and thereupon pronounced an vnfit wife for the King The King thus freed from his wife professeth hee cannot liue single they pronounce it lawfull for him to marry another wife and he taketh Valdrada to wife whom he had formerly kept as his concubine Nicholas the first Bishop of Rome hearing of this sendeth into France to learne the certainty The Legates hee sendeth come to the King to expostulate the matter with him The King answereth that he did nothing but what the Bishoppes of his kingdome in a generall Councell had assured him was lawfull to bee done Whereupon the Bishops of Coleyn and Treuers were sent for to Rome and the Pope called a Councell in which the opinions and proceedings of these Bishops were condemned and they degraded by all the Bishops Presbyters Deacons that were assembled in Councell In all which narration there is no circumstance found that any way proueth the Pope to haue the fulnesse of all Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction but the contrary rather may from hence bee concluded because nothing is done against these two Bishops but by a Synode of Bishops assembled by their owne Patriarch But saith Bellarmine Pope Nicholas excommunicated the King and Valdrada his supposed wife therefore he is vniuersall Bishop The former part of this saying is most vntrue for the Pope did not excommunicate the King but Valdrada onely And I thinke the excommunicating of one silly harlot that had so grievously scandalized the Church of God and whose cause was iudged before in a Synode being brought thither and there examined by reason of the vniust proceedings of the Bishops of Coleyn and Treuers against a lawfull Queene in favour of her will neuer by any good consequence proue the Pope to bee vniuersall Bishop yet these are all the proofes the Cardinall canne bring from the censures the auncient Bishops of Rome are reported to haue vsed and therefore he proceedeth to shew demonstrate the Amplitude of the Popes illimited power iurisdiction by the Vicegerents hee appointed in all partes of the Christian world that were farre remote from him to doe things in his name by his authority But for answere herevnto we say that neither this Cardinall nor any other canne proue that the Bishops of Rome had any such Vicars Vicegerents or Substitutes but onely within the compasse of their owne Patriarchships and that therefore from the hauing of them nothing can be inferred for confirmation of their illimited power authority So Leo as we reade in his Epistles constituted Anastasius Bishoppe of Thessalonica his Vicegerent for the parts thereabouts as other his predecessours had done former Bishops of that Church Whâ—…ch causing great resort thither vpon diuers occasions may bee thought to haue beene the reason why the Councell of Sardica prouideth that the Clergy-men of other churches shall not make too long stay at Thessalonica So the same Leo made Potentius the Bishop his Vicegerent in the parts of Africa Hormisda Salustius Bishop of Hispalis in Boetica and Lusitania and Gregory Virgilius Bishop of Arle in the regions of France all these places being within the compasse of the Patriarchship of Rome as Cusanus sheweth And the same may be sayd of the Bishop of Iustiniana the first who was appointed the Bishop of Romes Vicegerent in those parts vpon signification of the Emperours will and desire that it should be so Neither doth the Cardinall proue any other thing whatsoeuer he maketh shew of For though Cyril Bishop of Alexandria were the Vicegerent of Caelestinus in the cause of Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople yet was he not his Vicegerent in such sort as they were that were within his owne Patriarchship as if he had had none authority of his owne but that onely which Caelestinus gaue vnto him But Caelestinus hauing beene informed by Cyril of the impieties of Nestorius and hauing in his Synodes of the West condemned the same joyned his authority with the authority of Cyril that so he might proceed against him not onely as of himselfe and out of the iudgments of his own Bishops but also out of the consenting resolutions of them of the West And therefore Euagrius sheweth that at or before the time appointed by the Emperour Nestorius and Cyril came to Ephesus where a Councell was to be holden and that Iohn of Antioch with his Bishops being not come after fifteene dayes stay Cyril Bishop of Alexandria the greatest of all the Bishops that were present who also supplied the place of Caelestinus with the rest of the Bishops thought good to send for Nestorius and to require him to appeare in the Synode to answere to the crimes obiected to him Whereby it is euident that Nestorius being to be iudged in a generall Councell Cyril being the greatest of the Bishops that were present the Bishop of Rome neither comming nor sending at the first was in his owne right President of that assembly But the Bishop of Rome who could not come but hauing assembled his Bishops
doubt not of all indifferent Readers And therefore there remaineth but onely one allegation of Bellarmine touching appeales to be examined Gregory the first saith he put Iohn the Bishop of Iustiniana the first from the communion for that he presumed to iudge the Bishop of Thebes hauing appealed to Rome The case was this The Bishop of Thebes wronged by his fellow-Bishops made his appeale to Rome Hereupon Iohn Bishop of Iustiniana the first who was the Bishop of Romes Vicegerent for certaine Prouinces neare adioyning was appointed by the Emperour to heare the cause which he did accordingly But without all indifferencie and in sort contrarie to the Canons and though vpon the discerning of his vniust and partiall proceeding an appeale were tendered to him yet gaue he sentence against the poore distressed Bishop Gregory hearing hereof putteth him from the communion for thirty dayes space inioyning him to bewaile his fault with sorrowfull repentance and teares Truely this allegation maketh a very faire shew at the first sight But if wee remember that the Bishop of Iustiniana the first and the distressed Bishop of Thebes wronged by him were within the Patriarchship of Rome as Cusanus sheweth they were you shall finde it was no more that the B of Rome did then any other Patriarch in like case might haue done within his owne precincts and limits Neither can the Cardinall euer proue that the Bishop of Rome had any such Vicegerent as the Bishop of Iustiniana the first was but onely within the compasse of his owne Patriarchship But saith hee it was a Greeke Bishop that Gregory thus proceeded against It is true it was so But what will hee inferre from thence Is it not knowne that many Greeke Bishops were subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West was not the Bishoppe of Thessalonica a Greeke Bishop and yet I thinke no man doubteth but that hee was within the compasse of the Patriarchship of Rome as many other also were howsoeuer in time they fell from it adhered to the Church of Constantinople after the diuision of the Greeke and Latine Churches CHAP. 40. Of the Popes supposed exemption from all humane Iudgement as being reserued to the Iudgement of Christ onely OVR Adversaries finding their proofes of the Popes illimited power taken from such appeales as were wont in auncient times to bee made to Rome to bee too weake flie to another wherein they put more confidence which is his exemption from all humane Iudgement Christ whose Vicar he is having reserued him to his owne iudgement onely If this exemption could bee as strongly proued as it is confidently affirmed it would be an vnanswerable proofe of the thing in question But the proofe hereof will be more hard then of the principall thing in controuersie betweene vs. Touching this point I finde great contrarietie of opinions among Papists as men at their wits ends not knowing what to affirme nor what to denie For first there are some among them that thinke that the Pope though hee violate all lawes diuine and humane though hee become publickly scandalous and therein shew himselfe incorrigible yea though hee be a professed and damnable hereticke yet neither is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon nor may be deposed by all the men in the world Which opinion if we admit to bee true the condition of the church the beloued spouse of Christ and mother of vs all is most woefull and miserable in that hereby shee is forced to acknowledge a denouring wolfe making hauocke of the sheepe of Christ redeemed with his precious bloud to be her Pastor and guide Secondly some are of opinion that the Pope if hee become an open and professed hereticke is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon and that the church may declare that he is so deposed Thirdly there are that thinke that an hereticall Pope is not deposed ipso facto but that he may be deposed by the church Fourthly many worthy Diuines in the Romane church heretofore haue beene of opinion that the Church or generall Councell may depose the Pope not onely for heresie but also for other enormous crimes Of this opinion was Cardinall Cusanus Cardinall Cameracensis Gerson Chauncellour of Paris Almaine and all the Parisians with all the worthy Bishops Diuines in the Councels of Constance and Basill Yet the Papists at this day for the most part dislike and condemne this opinion and acknowledge no deposition of any Pope how ill soeuer vnlesse it be for heresie And Bellarmine to make all sure telleth vs farther that the church doth not by any authoritie depose an hereticall Pope but whereas he is deposed ipso facto in that hee falleth into heresie onely declareth the same and thereupon largely refuteth the opinion of Cardinall Caietane who thinketh that the Pope when he falleth into heresie is not deposed ipso facto but that deseruing to bee deposed the Church doth truely and out of her authority depose him First because as he saith if the Church or Councell may depose the Pope from his Papall dignity against his will for what cause soeuer it will follow that the Church is aboue the Pope which yet Caietane denieth For as it will follow that the Pope is aboue other Bishops and of more authority then they if he may depose them so if the councell of Bishops may depose the Pope they are greater then hee Secondly he saith to be put from the Papacie vnwillingly is a punishment so that if the Church may depose the Pope though vnwilling to leaue his place it may punish him and consequently is aboue him For hee that hath power to punish hath the place of a Superiour and Iudge Thirdly he that may restraine and limit a man in the vse and exercise of his ministerie and office is in authority aboue him therefore much more he that may put him from it By these reasons it is clearely demonstrated and proued that if the Church or generall Councell haue authority in case of heresie to depose the Pope at least in some sort it is of greater authority then the Pope And therefore to avoide this consequence as Gerson rightly noteth they that too much magnifie the greatnesse and amplitude of Papall power say that an hereticall Pope in that he is an Hereticke ceaseth to be Pope and is deposed by Almighty God So that the Church doth not by vertue of her authority and jurisdiction depose him but onely denounce and declare that he is so deposed by God to be taken for such a one by men and not to be obeyed This they endeauour to proue because all Heretickes are condemned by their owne iudgment as the Apostle saith and stay not as other euill doers till the Church cast them out but voluntarily depart of themselues from the fellowship of Gods people and cut themselues off from the vnity of the Body of the Church
or else they must acknowledge that he is not deposed ipso facto by becomming an hereticke but that he is to be deposed by the authority of the Church and so make the Church of greater authority then the Pope and then they are in worse case then before For then as the Church by her authority censureth him for heresie lest he subuert the faith misse-leade the People of God and ouerthrow religion so she may likewise censure him in other cases for the auoiding of the like danger Seeing such may be his prodigious and hellish conuersation and his execrable corruption violence in doing wrong in peruerting justice in turning iudgement into wormewood in violating all lawes and Canons in ouerthrowing the jurisdiction of all other Bishops and in making a scorne of all religion as may be as hurtfull to the Church as heresie Now that wee speake not of an impossible or strange thing or neuer heard of before when we speake of monsters prodigious and hellish monsters intruding themselues by sinister meanes into the holy chaire of blessed Peter let the Reader peruse the Histories written of the Popes by their owne friendes and by the louers of the Church of Rome which are full of the villanies of this kind of men in which nothing is more ordinary or more often repeated then those honourable titles of most wicked Popes Monstra teterrimamonstra monsters most hydeous and ougly monsters Let him cast his eyes vpon the 50 Popes mentioned by Genebrard that vassall of the Pope and sworne enemy of all honest and good men which are by him acknowledged to haue beene monsters and Apostaticall rather then Apostolicall and among them vpon that monster of monsters Iohn the twelfth then whom a viler hell-hound neuer breathed vpon the earth and who seemed to be a very Diuell incarnate Wherefore let vs passe from the case of heresie to see whether the Pope may not bee deposed for other enormous crimes publickely scandalous The chiefe and principall reason brought by our Aduersaries to proue that hee may not be iudged of any whatsoeuer hee doe is because he hath soueraigne authority ouer all and is Prince of the whole Church But this reason as Bellarmine confesseth is Petitio principii that is a grosse begging of that which is in question and besides they who bring this proofe runne round in a circle and make themselues giddy by sophisticall circulation For thus they dispute The Pope hath an absolute soueraignty ouer all is Prince of the whole Church because no man may iudge him and if any man doubt whether he may be iudged or not they proue full wisely that he may not because he hath an absolute soueraignty Wherefore the Cardinall leaueth the prouing of this point by reason and vndertaketh to demonstrate the same by authorities But they are such as are not much to bee esteemed For either they proue not the point in question or else they may iustly be suspected of forgery corruption The first testimony hee alledgeth is out of the Councell of Sinuessa which was called as it is supposed by the Clergy of Rome in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour to examine the fact of Marcellinus that had sacrificed vnto Idols Of the acts of this Councell Binnius in his Annotations vpon the same in the first Tome of the Councells saith That very many of the best learned Diuines doe thinke them to be meere counterfeits and of no esteeme or credit and that they were but the deuice of the Donatists seeking to blemish the blessed memorie of Marcellinus whom all antiquity much esteemed and honoured Whereupon Saint Augustine saith that certaine Donatists obiected the fall of Marcellinus to the Catholickes but that they could neuer yet proue any such crime to haue been committed by him as they charged him with Howsoeuer there are many most strong and forcible arguments to proue that the acts of this Councell are meere forgeries For first whereas this Councell is said to haue beene holden at Sinuessa in a certaine vault or caue vnder the ground that was named the vault or caue of Cleopatra there is no History nor no Writer that mentioneth any such caue nor any man that can tell of any the least memoriall of any such thing Neither doth that answere satisfie men that many famous citties haue beene made desolate by Earth-quakes and many mountaines and plaines haue changed both their situation place and name For howsoeuer they lost their old names and are called by new yet their old names remaine still in those auncient Writers wherein formerly they were but the name of this caue or vault cannot bee found in any auncient Writer whatsoeuer Secondly it is very strange that in the time of Dioclesian when the persecution was hottest and the flame of that fire consumed and wasted all that came neere it three hundred Bishoppes should bee assembled together and meet in such a caue whereinto they could not all enter and so hide themselues but only 50 at a time leauing the rest abroad to be spied apprehended then which what can be more vnlikely For they are reported to haue made choice of a caue to meete in that by hiding themselues they might decline the furie of their bloudy enemies and yet this caue is described to haue beene in a citty and of so small receipt and narrow compasse that onely 50 could enter into it at a time So that 250 were alwaies in open view abroade in the citty Thirdly in the accusation that is brought against Marcellinus it is said that Dioclesian brought him into the Temple of Vesta and Isis and that he caused him to sacrifice to Saturne and Iupiter whereas it is certaine that diuerse Gods and Goddesses among the heathen had their diuerse Temples so that they neuer vsed to sacrifice to Iupiter in the Temple of Vesta or to Vesta in the Temple of Iupiter or Mars Fourthly the Author of the Pontificall saith Marcellinus did sacrifice and a few dayes after repenting of that hee had done was martyred Now how 300 Bishoppes in so few dayes could bee brought together I thinke neither the Authours nor the patrons of these forgeries can easily tell vs. These and the like reasons are brought by Cardinall Baronius and others who thinking that to acknowledge that Marcellinus did sacrifice to idols doth more disaduantage their cause then any thing decreed in it doth helpe it incline to say that the acts of this Councell are counterfeite and that all these things were devised by the enemies of the See Apostolicke But others thinking that the fact of this Pope may be excused and supposing that the Decree of this councell that the first See is to be iudged of none may much helpe their helplesse cause and for that otherwise they shall be driuen to discredite it their Martyrologies and their Breviaries and Pope Nicholas the first who vrgeth the saying of these supposed Bishops in his Epistle to
Michael the Emperour admit this Councell as if it were of credite and vrge the authority of it to confirme things questioned betweene them and vs though they bee not able to answere the reasons of the other side to the satisfaction of any indifferent man for this is the manner of these Iesuited Papists to reject or admit nothing otherwise then as they thinke it may make for them or against them But to leaue them thus striuing and contending one with another and to come to the saying alleadged by Bellarmine out of this supposed Councell it no way maketh for them but against them and cannot stand with the grounds of their owne Divinity vnlesse they will bee of their opinion who think that the church must endure an hereticall Pope that he must be still taken to be a sheepheard of the sheep of Christ though as a devouring wolfe he make havocke of the flocke of Christ. For is not Infidelity as badde as Heresie And did not Marcellinus as much endanger the Church of Rome and the Religion of Christians in making friendship with Dioclesian by sacrificing to his Idoles as Liberius did by subscribing to the Arrians wicked proceedings against Athanasius and communicating with Heretickes Was it lawfull for the cleargy of Rome vpon the knowledge of Liberius his fact to depose him and might not the same cleargy assisted with three hundred Bishops judge and depose Marcellinus But heere wee may see the partiality of these Papists and that they write without all conscience For Bellarmine being to justifie Felix to be a true Pope who possessed the place while Liberius liued saith that in his entrance hee was a schismaticke Liberius yet liuing and continuing a Catholique Bishop but that after the fall of Liberius for which the Church did lawfully depose him hee was by the same church admitted and taken for a true Bishop Yea though Liberius were not in heart an Hereticke but was presumed to bee an Hereticke onely because hee made peace with the Arrians and so was an Hereticke in his outward courses and acts of which men are to judge and not of the heart And yet touching Marcellinus hee saith hee thinketh hee lost not his Popedome nor might not bee deposed from it for that most execrable externe act of idolatrie infidelitie because it might be thought he did it out of feare Shall the vncertain coniecture of the motiue that made him doe so vile an act excuse him from being proceeded against as an Infidell that doth the workes of an Infidell and shall not the like conjectures stay the proceedings against men as Heretickes vpon their outward concurring with Heretickes in some things Shall feare excuse Marcellinus and shall not the impatience of Liberius no longer able to endure such intollerable vexations as he was subject to excuse him was it not as strongly presumed that impatience moued the one to doe that hee did as feare the other Yes surely much more For if wee may beleeue the acts of this faigned Councell Marcellinus was rather wonne with flattery and faire promises then forced with terrours the Emperour seeking to winne him with kindnesse and not to force him with seuerity and extremity being perswaded by Alexander and Romanus so to doe For that if hee could insinuate himselfe into the affection of the Bishop and assure him vnto himselfe he might thereby easily gaine the whole city Thus hauing examined the first testimony produced by the Romanists to proue that the Bishoppes of the Romane See may not bee judged and found it to bee of no credite let vs see if the next will bee any better The next is taken out of the Romane Councell vnder Pope Sylvester consisting of 284 Bishops wherein we finde these wordes Neque ab Augusto neque à Regibus neque ab omni Clero neque â populo iudicabitur primasedes that is The first See shall not bee judged neither by Augustus neither by Kings neither by the whole Clergie neither by the people Before we come to answere this authority we must obserue that many things are most fondly and fabulously deuised and attributed to this Syluester vnder whom this imagined Romane Councell is supposed to haue beene holden For whereas Eusebius Zozomen and other Historians of credit report that the conuersion of Constantine the great was partly out of those good lessons he had learned of his father and partly by a strange apparition of the signe of the Crosse with an inscription in it in hoc vince that is in this ouercom appearing to him in the aire when preparing himselfe to the warre against Maxentius he carefully bethought himselfe to what God hee should betake him and whose helpe among the Gods hee should specially seeke and partly by a vision of Christ appearing to him whereupon he sent for the Priests of that God that had so manifested himselfe vnto him and learned of them what God he was Those fond men that published the faigned acts of Syluester report that Constantine after many horrible murthers of his nearest Kinsmen and the parricide of his owne sonne Crispus being stricken with leprosie was wished by the South-sayers to whom hee sought for counsell and aduice to take the blood of Innocents and to bathe himselfe in it for the curing of his leprosie but that discouraged from the effusion thereof by the piteous cries of their tender mothers hee be thought himselfe better and sought expiation of his grieuous crimes which all other denying to him for so grieuous offences Hosius of Corduba told him that the Christians could purge him and Peter and Paul appearing to him told him hee must recall Syluester out of his hiding place whither he was gone for feare and seeke baptisme of him and that then he should be purged both from the impurity of his soule body which accordingly was done and he recouered In thankefull requitall whereof he cast downe the Temples of the false Gods builded many Christian Churches and gaue to Syluester the citty of Rome with all Italy and many other prouinces besides making him temporall Lord of all those places Whereas it is most certaine that Constantine was not baptized till a litle before his death as it appeareth by Eusebius by Hierome by the Synodal Epistle of the Coūcel of Ariminum written to Constantius reported by Theodoret Socrates and Zozomen and as certaine that Constantine was a Christian Emperour before Syluester was Bishop For in the daies of Melchiades his predecessour hee tooke notice of the differences among Bishops in respect of Caecilianus and rested not till hee had composed them professing that hee so honoured the Catholique Church that hee could not endure any schisme to be in it Notwithstanding the same authors of lyes go forward and tell vs after the Baptisme of Constantine by Syluester of a Councell holden at Rome by the same Syluester consisting of 284. Bishops brought thither and maintained there at the
Simeon and Leui Priest-hood and knight-hood Bishoply power and that which is Princely must rise vp together for the rescuing of Dinah their sister out of the hands of him that seeketh to dishonour her Vi charitatis etsi non authoritatis that is By force of charity though not of authority So that according to his opinion the chiefe Ministers of the Church inuest the Princes of the world with their royall authority according to the saying of Hugo but giue them not their authority they may iudge of the actions of Princes but they may not praeiudicare they may not preiudice Princes They may in the time of neede come to the succour and in the time of danger reach forth the helping hand to the ciuill state shaken by the negligence or malice of ciuill princes but it must bee by way of charity not of authority as likewise the ciuill state may and ought to bee assistant to the Ecclesiasticall in like danger defect or failing of the Ecclesiasticall ministers The next argument that our Aduersaries bring is taken from a comparison between the soule and body expressing the difference betweene the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state found as they say in Gregory Nazianzen But that we may the better vnderstand the force of this argument we must obserue that in the comparison which they bring they make the Ecclesiasticall state and spirituall power like the spirit and diuine faculties thereof and the ciuill state like the flesh with the senses and sensitiue appetite thereof And as in Angels there is spirit without flesh in bruit beasts flesh and sense without spirit and in man both these conjoyned so they will haue vs graunt that there is sometimes Ecclesiasticall power without ciuill as in the Apostles times and longe after sometimes ciuill without Ecclesiasticall as among the heathen and sometimes these two conjoyned together And as when the spirit and flesh meete in one the spirit hath the command and though it suffer the flesh to do all those things which it desireth vnlesse they be contrary to the intendments designes ends of it yet when it findeth them to be contrary it may and doth command the fleshly part to surcease from her owne actions yea it maketh it to fast watch and do and suffer many grieuous and afflictiue things euen to the weakning of it selfe Soe in like manner they would inferre that the Ecclesiasticall state being like to the spirit and soule and the ciuill to the body of flesh the Church hath power to restraine and bridle ciuill Princes if they hinder the spirituall good thereof not onely by censures Ecclesiasticall but outward inforcement also This is the great and grand argument our Aduersaries bring to proue that Popes may depose Princes wherein first wee may obserue their folly in that they bring similitudes which serue only for illustration and not for probation for the maine confirmation of one of the principall points of their faith which whosoeuer denyeth sinneth in as high a degree as Marcellinus that sacrificed vnto Idols and Peter that denied his maister Secondly we see how much Princes are beholding vnto them that compare them to bruit beasts and at the best to the brutish part that is in men common to them with bruit beastes If they say Nazianzen so compareth them they are like themselues and speake vntruly for he compareth not Princes Priestes to spirit and flesh but going about to shew the difference of the objectes of their power maketh the spirit to be the obiect of the one of thē the flesh of the other Not as if Princes were to take no care of the welfare of the soules of their subjects as well as of their bodies but because the immediate procuring of the soules good is by preaching ministration of the Sacraments Discipline which the Prince is to procure and to see wel performed but not to administer these things himselfe as also because the coactiue power the Prince hath extendeth onely to the body and not to the soule as the Ecclesiasticall power of binding and loosing doth Thirdly we may obserue that if this similitude should proue any thing it would proue that the ciuill state among Christians hath no power to do any act whatsoeuer but by the command or permission of the Ecclesiasticall For so it is between the spirit the body sensitiue faculties that shew themselues in it The Philosophers note that there is a double regiment in man the one politicall or ciuill the other despoticall the one like the authority of Princes ouer their subjects that are freemen the other like the authority of Lords ouer their bondmen and slaues The former is of reason in respect of sensitiue appetite which by perswasion it may induce to surcease to desire that which it discerneth to be hurtfull but cannot force it so to doe the other of reason and the will in respect of the loco-motiue facultie and this absolute so that if reason cannot winne a desisting from desire in the inferiour powers that shew themselues in the body yet the will may command the loco-motiue faculty either cause al outward action to cease how earnestly soeuer sensitiue desire carry vnto it or to bee performed how much soeuer it resist against it as it may commaund and force the drinking of a bitter potion which the appetite cannot be wonne vnto and the rejecting putting from vs those things that are most desired Neither can the appetite and sensitiue faculties performe any of their actions without the consent of the will reason For if the will commaund the eyes are closed vp and see nothing the eares are stopped and heare nothing how much soeuer the appetite desire to see and heare Neither onely haue the soules higher powers this commaund ouer the inferiour faculties in respect of things that may further and hinder their own good and perfection as they may command to watch or fast for the prevention and mortification of sin but they may also at their pleasure hinder the whole course of the actions of the outward man withdraw all needfull things from the body and depriue it euen of life it selfe though there be no cause at all so to doe So that if the comparison of the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state to the soule and body do hold from thence may it be inferred that the Church hath power to commaund in all things pertaining to the common-wealth and that the ciuill magistrates haue none at all For the lower faculties neither haue nor ought to haue any commaund further then they are permitted by the superiour neither can they doe any thing contrary to the liking of the superiour though neuer so just reasonable And so we see how silly a thing it is to reason from these similitudes and that they that so do build vpon the sands so that all the frame of their building commeth to the ground The third reason brought by our Adversaries is this
be present in Generall Councels and who they are of whom generall Councels do consist HAuing spoken of the necessity profit and vse of Generall Councels it remaineth that wee proceede to see who they are that may bee present in such Councels and of whom they do consist The persons that may be present are of diuerse sorts For some are there with authority to teach define prescribe and to direct others are there to heare set forward and consent vnto that which is there to be done In the former sort none but only Ministers of the word and sacraments are present in Councels and they onely haue deciding and defining voyces but in the latter sort * Lay-men also may be present whereupon we shall find that Bishops and Presbyters subscribe in this sort Ego N. definiens subscrips◅ that is I as hauing power to define and decree haue subscribed But the Emperour or any other Lay-person Ego N. consentiens subscripsi that is I as one giuing consent to that which is agreed on by the spirituall Pastors haue subscribed That the Emperor and other Lay-men of place and sort may be present in Generall Councels no man maketh doubt For though Pope Nicholas seeme to deny that the Emperours may be presēt in other Councels where matters of faith are not handled yet he cōfesseth they may be presēt in general Conncels where the faith which is cōmon to all pertaineth not to Clergy-men alone but to Lay-men and all Christians generally is treated of it being a rule in nature reason Quod omnes tangit ab omnibus tractari debere that is that that which concerneth all may be handled and medled with by all so farre forth as conueniently it may and as there is no manifest reason in respect of the disturbance and hinderance of the deliberation to repell them from such intermedling for in such cases there may bee a repelling of men hauing interest in such businesses and affaires and therefore Pulcheria the Empresse Commanded the Captaine of Bythinia with violence to driue out of the Councell of Chalcedon such Monkes Clerkes and Lay-men as being of no vse did but pester the Councell and to leaue none there but such as the Bishops brought with them But our aduersaries say the Protestants affirme that Lay-men ought not only to be present in generall Councels but also to haue decisiue yoyces as well as they of the Cleargy and thereupon charge vs with great absurdity Wherefore for the answering of this obiection wee must obserue that there is a threefold decision of things doubtfull and questionable The one such as euery one vpon the knowledge of it must yeeld vnto vpon perill of damnation vpon the bare word of him that decideth The second to which euery one must yeeld vpon like perill not vpon the bare word of him that decideth but vpon the euidence of proofe he bringeth The third such as euery one must yeeld vnto not vpon perill of damnation but of excommunication and the like censure Ecclesiasticall In the first sort the Protestants say that onely Christ the sonne of God hath a decisiue voyce In the second sort that any Lay-men as well as Clergy-men for whosoeuer it is that bringeth conuincing proofes decideth a doubt in such sort as that no man ought to resist against it Whereupon Panormitan sayth that the iudgment of one priuate man is to be preferred before the sentence of the Pope if hee haue better authorities of the Old and New Testament to confirme his iudgment And Gerson saith that any learned man may and ought to resist against a whole Councell if hee discerne it to erre of malice or ignorance and whatsoeuer Bishops determine their determinations binde not the conscience further then they approue that they propose some other way then by their authoritie onely Soe that in this sence the Protestants truely say that Bishoppes must not proceede Praetor-like but that all that they doe must bee but in the nature of an inquiry and their Decrees no farther of force then reason doth warrant them For howsoeuer the Son of God hath promised to be with his Church to the end of the world which shall bee fulfilled in respect of his elect and chosen who cannot erre damnably and finally yet hath he not tyed himselfe to any one sort or company of men neither is it certainely knowne but that all they that meete in a Councell may erre notwithstanding Christes promise To which purpose it is that Brentius and other say We cannot be certaine of the determination of Councells because euery company of men professing CHRIST is not the true Church seeing all that so professe are not Elect neither doe they deny all authority and iurisdiction to such as are not knowne to be Elect nor giue it all to such as no man canne knowe who they be as Bellarmine vntruly saith they doe for in the third sort they willingly acknowledge that Bishops haue deciding voyces power so to iudge of things as to subiect all those that shall thinke and teach otherwise then they doe to excommunication and censures of like nature And that therefore they are properly Iudges that their course of proceeding is not a bare Inquiry and search but a binding determination and that they haue a Pretorlike power to binde men to stand to that they propose decree and in this sort we all teach that Lay-men haue no voyce decisiue but Bishops Pastors onely which may be confirmed by many reasons First because when the question is in what pastures it is fitte the sheepe of CHRIST should feede in what pastures they may feede without danger the duty of consulting is principally and the power of prescribing wholy in the Pastours though the sheepe of CHRIST being reasonable haue and must haue a kinde of discerning whether they bee directed into wholesome pleasant pastures or not Secondly none but they whom Paul saith CHRIST going vp into heauen gaue for the gathering together of the Saintes for the worke of the Ministery haue authority to teach and to prescribe vnto others what they shall professe beleeue of whom the LORD said by Ieremy the Prophet I will giue you Pastors that shall feede you with knowledge and doctrine Thirdly because in all Councels Bishops Pastors onely are found to haue subscribed to the decrees made in them as defining decreeing howsoeuer other men testified their consent by subscription and Princes and Emperours by their royall authority confirmed the same and subiected the contemners and violaters thereof to imprisonment banishment confiscation of goods and the like ciuill punishments as the Bishops did to excommunication and censures Spirituall So that it is agreed on that Bishoppes and Ministers onely haue decisiue voyces in Councels in sort before expressed but the question is onely whether all Ministers of the Word and Sacraments haue such decisiue voyces or none but Bishops The Papists
in the vpper part of the hall Eustathius Bishop of Antioch sate in the highest seate in that rancke that was on the right hand and made the Oration to the Emperour but in subscribing many were before him And Hosius the Bishop of Corduba in Spaine a man of great fame was chiefe president composed the forme of faith there agreed on and subscribed it first and then in the second place the Presbyters that were the Vicegerents of the Bishop of Rome who in respect of his old age could not be present subscribed to the same forme of faith and after them Alexander the Bishop of Alexandria That Hosius was President of the Councell of Nice and of many other Councels besides we haue the testimony of Athanasius The reason why he being a Bishop of so meane a place should bee so honoured and set before all other was the good opinion that all men held of him being a man famous and renowned throughout the world which moued Constantine after he heard of the differences in the Church of Alexandria betweene Alexander and Arrius to send him thither before euer he thought of calling this Councell hoping that by his wisedome and authority he might quiet all But our Adversaries lest any prejudice might grow to the Church of Rome by this ill president of the councell of Nice in admitting so meane a Bishop to be her president neglecting the Bishop of Rome adventure to say that Hosius was not president in his owne right but as the Bishop of Romes Vice-gerent and supplying his place though they bee no way able to proue the same and the cleare euidence of the thing it selfe reproue them For the Histories speake of Presbyters the Bishop of Rome sent to supply his place but mention not Hosius as imployed in that sort which they would not haue omitted if hee had beene imployed so also and besides in the subscriptions both as they are found in the ordinary Edition of the councell of Nice and that which is out of the Greek book found in the Vatican put forth by Pisanus the Iesuite Hosius subscribeth first without any signification of his supplying the place of the Bishop of Rome as Legates are euer wont to doe and as Vitus and Vincentius his Legates do in this Councell for the forme of their subscription is this We haue subscribed for and in the name of the most reverend man c. So that that which Bellarmine alledgeth out of a certain preface before the councell of Sardica the Author whereof is not knowne is little to bee esteemed as no way able to weaken the authorities and reasons which wee bring Touching the second Generall Councell the Councell of Chalcedon expressely affir meth that Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople was president of it and if wee looke to the subscriptions wee shall finde that hee subscribed first and before all other So that it is evident that Damasus then Bishop of Rome was not president of that assembly And Bellarmine confesseth as much but he faith if hee had beene present hee had doubtlesse beene president which haply may bee true yet his reason to proue it is not good which hee taketh from the Epistle of the councell to Damasus For in that Epistle the Fathers and Bishops acknowledge themselues members of that body whereof Damasus and his company are a part but doe not call him their head as he vntruely reporteth Neither doeth the Epistle of Damasus to the Fathers of the councell yeeld any better proofe For though hee call them sonnes yet it will hardly follow that they would haue taken him for a president of their meeting especially seeing it is probably supposed that they therefore stayde of purpose at Constantinople that more freely and with greater authority they might compasse such things as they intended then if they should haue gone to Rome where Damasus with his Westerne Bishops might haue crossed or at least in some sort hindered their intendments and designes In the third Generall councell which was the first at Ephesus Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria was President as it appeareth euidently by the acts of the councell and the Histories of those times and had also the authority of Caelestinus Bishop of Rome ioyned vnto him as may bee seene by the Epistle of Calestinus written vnto him which is found among the Actes of the Ephesine Councell Whereunto agreeth that of Valentinian and Martian in their Epistle to Palladius expressely saying that both Caelestinus Bishop of Rome and Cyrill Bishoppe of Alexandria were presidents of the Councell of Ephesus and also that of the whole Councell of Chalcedon professing expressely that both Caelestinus and Cyrill were presidents of that assembly which thing the very Actes of the councell it selfe sufficiently proue in which he is described to haue moderated all as chiefe and principall among the Bishops present yet not by his owne authority alone but supplying also the place of Caelestinus Bishop of Rome And in like sort Euagrius doth not say that he supplyed the place of Caelestinus as if he had not beene president in his owne right but that hee also supplyed the place of Caelestinus for so it is in the Greeke Photius saith Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria who also supplyed the place of Caelestinus B. of Rome Memnon Bishop of Ephesus and Iuvenall Bishop of Ierusalem were Presidents of the first councell of Ephesus Thus it is euident that Cyrill sate as President in the councell of Ephesus though not without the concurrence of the Bishoppe of Rome who joyned his authority with him and sent his owne resolution and the resolutions of his Bishops vnto him and the Councell though he sent none out of the West to that meeting till long after the Councell was begunne and many things therein done In the fourth Generall Councell holden at Chalcedon the Legates of the Bishoppe of Rome had the first and chiefest place but in the fift Eutychius Bishop of Constantinople sate as President and had the first place And though Vigilius then Bishop of Rome being at that time at Constantinople could neither bee induced to be present nor to agree vnto it while it was holden nor to confirme and allow it when it ended yet it was iudged a lawfull Generall Councell and hee and so many moe as resisted against it for their wilfull dissenting were sent into banishment This Councell was called by Iustinian the Emperor to examine and condemne an Epistle of Ibas certain workes of Theodoret and the person of Theodorus Bishoppe of Mopsuestia who all were thought fauourers of Nestorius and yet receiued to grace in the Councell of Chalcedon in hope that they would thereupon embrace and receiue that Councell which were auerse from it as thinking though vntruly that it fauoured the Nestorians as also to condemne the errors of Origen his followers That this Councell notwithstanding the contradiction of Vigilius was admitted receiued as
Councell as Iudges may decree and determine and yet the power of re-examining and reuersing all if neede be may rest in the Pope as superiour Iudge vnto them which yet no way cleareth the doubt For howsoeuer it be true in Iudges and Iudgements distinct separate and subordinate one to another that one may dash that the other doth and doe the contrary without the consent of the other yet of Iudges ioyned in one Commission and of the same iudgment it cannot be so conceiued Now the Iudgement of the Generall Councell includeth in it the Iudgement of the Pope the Pope and Councell make one Iudge and are not separate distinct and subordinate Iudges and therefore no such thing can bee said of them If it be said that he who is joyned in commission with others in some inferiour Court and hath a Negatiue voyce in it onely and no absolute affirmatiue may in a superiour Court haue both and that therefore the Pope who hath no absolute voyce affirmatiue and negatiue in a Generall Councell may haue such a voyce in some higher Court it will be found to be too shamelesse a saying For there neither is nor can be any higher Court then that of a Generall Councell consisting of the Bishop of Rome and all the other Bishops of the World So that all answers failing wee may safely conclude that if Bishops bee Iudges Ecclesiasticall truely and properly as wee haue proued them to bee by vnanswerable reasons and our Adversaries confesse the Pope hath no absolute voyce affirmatiue and negatiue in Generall Councels that is to dash what the Maior part would doe and to doe that they by no meanes like of This Andradius saw and therefore hee disclaimeth the position of Bellarmine that all the assurance the Councell hath of finding out the truth is Originally in the Pope and from him cōmunicated to the Councell and holdeth that the Councell hath as good assurance of finding out the trueth and better then the Pope himselfe And therefore hee saith that though he thinketh it impossible the Pope should dissent frō the councell so as to define contrary to it yet if it should so fall out as hee thinketh it not impossible that the Bishop of Rome should altogether dislike in his opinion that which the Councell resolueth on and which hee should consent vnto and though he define not the contrary yet despise the Decrees of the Councell and in his priuate opinion gainsay them he thinketh in such a case men were to conceiue none otherwise of him then if hee should depart from the faith and profession of the ancient Councels which the consent of all ages hath confirmed and Gregory professeth to honour and esteeme as the foure Gospels seeing the power and authority is as great in all Councels as in those which the same Gregory saith that whosoeuer holdeth not their certaine resolutions though he seeme to be a stone elect and precious yet he lyeth besides the foundation And because the authority of Cardinall Turrecremata is great with all those that defend the dignity of the Pope against the Bishops that were assembled in the Councell of Basil such as are of their judgement therefore he produceth his opinion in these words If such a case should fall out saith Cardinall Turrecremata that all the Fathers assembled in a Generall Councell with vnanimous consent should make a decree concerning the faith which the person of the Pope alone should contradict I would say according to my judgement that men were bound to stand to the judgement of the Synode and not to listen to the gainsaying of the person of the Pope for the judgment of so many and so great Fathers in a Generall Councell seemeth worthily to bee preferred before the judgement of one man In which case that Glosse vpon the Decrees is most excellent that when the faith is treated of the Pope is bound to require the Counsell of Bishops which is to bee vnderstood to bee necessary to bee done as often as the case is very doubtfull and a Synode may be called and then the Synode is greater then the Pope not truely in the power of jurisdiction but in the authority of discerning judgment and the amplitude of knowledge This is the opinion of this great champion who so mainely in defence of the Popes vniversall jurisdictiō impugned the Fathers that were assembled in the Councell of Basil. Whereby it is evident that the pope may not go against the consent of a Generall Councell that he may not dissent from it being greater in the authority of discerning and judgement then hee is and consequently that hee hath no negatiue voyce in Councels Which may further bee proued for that if he had a negatiue voyce as the Councell hath then were there two absolute negatiues but where there are two absolute negatiues it is vncertaine whether any thing shall be resolued on or not whereas yet the state of the Church requireth resolution and certain concluding of matters that men may know what they are to beleeue Therefore the Pope hath none but the onely negatiue is that of the Councell a part whereof the Pope is giuing a voyce as others doe And this the manner of other Synodes confirmeth For in Provinciall Nationall and Patriarchicall Councels the Metropolitanes Primates and Patriarches haue no absolute negatiue but giue only a single voyce and the absolute negatiue as also the affirmatiue is onely in the Maior part and as Cardinall Turrecremata learnedly and rightly maketh the authority of the Generall Councell in discerning and defining what is to be belieued greater then the authority of the Pope and that the Councel is ratherto be listened vnto then the Pope dissenting from the Councell so there is no doubt but that the authority of Councels being as great in making necessary lawes for the good of the Church as in resoluing doubtes and clearing controuersies the Councell is greater then the Pope in the power of making lawes and consequently in the power of jurisdiction which he denieth and they of Basil affirme The greatest allegation on the contrary side is the confirmation that ancient Councels sought of the Bishop of Rome for that may seeme to import that their decrees are of no force vnlesse they be strengthened by his authority whereunto Andradius answereth out of Alfonsus á Castro and others that Generall Councels carefully sought to be confirmed by the Bishop of Rome not as if in themselues without his confirmation they were weake and might erre nor for that they thought him to haue as much or more assurance of not erring then they but that it might appeare that he that hath the first place in the Church of God and the rest did consent and conspire together in the deliuery and the defence of the trueth But because happily this answer may seeme too weake therefore for the clearing of this doubt we must obserue that all the ancient Councels
quondam oblata turned out of French into Latine by Duarenus and added to his booke De sacris Ecclesiae Ministeriis that there being a great number of goodly Churches founded by the Kings of France when the Bishops of Rome began to prejudice the liberties of them the King the Nobles the Princes of the bloud the Cleargy and commons assembled to resist the vexations oppressions wrongs of the Court of Rome made many good Constitutions for the repressing of such insolencies So Lewys when first the Pope began to meddle in the yeare one thousand two hundred sixty seauē decreed that Preslacies Dignities electiue should be giuen by election and such as are not electiue by collation and presentation of Patrons and that the Court of Rome should extort no money for any such thing out of the Kingdome of France And when notwithstanding this Decree in processe of time the Court of Rome attempted divers things contrary to the liberty of the church of France Charles the Sixth with the advise of his Nobles Prelates Abbottes Colledges Vniversities and other partes of his Kingdome in the yeare one thousand foure hundred and sixe made a Constitution whereby hee restored the church to her auncient liberty and this Decree was published in the yeare one thousand foure hundred and seauen in which yeare Benedict the Pope and his Ministers hauing imposed and exacted great summes of money a new complaint was made to the King and thereupon a Decree made that nothing should bee payde out of France in the nature of Annates or Tenthes and that such as had beene excommunicated for refusall of them should bee absolued againe In the yeare one thousand foure hundred and eighteene a Constitution was made whereby all Reservations and Apostolicall graces as they call them together with all exactions of the court of Rome were forbidden And when as the Romanes contemning all Constitutions ceased not to trouble and confound the Hierarchy of the Church and scattered abroad euery where throughout the World their Reservations and expectatiue graces whence followed great and horrible deformities in the church at last a Generall Councell was assembled for the Reformation of the church in the Head and members which prohibited these Reseruations and expectatiue Graces restored the canons touching Elections and Collations and subjected all that should contumaciously resist yea though the Pope him-selfe to due punishment The Decrees of this councell Charles the Seauenth confirmed with the consent of all Estates of his Kingdome and this his Decree of Confirmation was called the Pragmaticall Sanction But the Popes neuer rested till they had if not wholly ouerthrowne it yet greatly weakened it The attemptes of Pius the Second who beeing a private man in the Councell of Basil set it forward what hee could are not vnknowne as also of Sixtus the Fourth Innocentius the Eighth Alexander the Sixth Iulius the Second and Leo the Tenth who published a Constitution whereby the Pragmaticall Sanction was much weakened though not wholly taken away and those his new Decrees were called Conventa that is agreements betweene the King and him From these Decrees the Vniversity of Paris appealed to a Generall councell And thus wee see how well the Popes fulfill the commaundement of Christ in feeding his Sheepe that labour so mainely the ouer-throw of those canons which being taken away the whole Ecclesiasticall Order is confounded whole countries are made desolate and forsaken Kingdomes are robbed of their money and treasure churches are ruinated and subverted For so did all good men out of wofull experience complaine in former times Wherefore passing by these intrusions vsurpations and tyrannicall inter-meddling of Popes with things not pertayning to them it is evident by that which hath beene saide that the Election of fit Ministers to teach the people of God pertaineth to the cleargy and people by the reasons and grounds of humane societies vnlesse by their owne consent forfeiture restraint of superiour authority cōmaunding ouer them or speciall reasons prevailing more then those generall grounds of humane fellowship it be taken from them As in case of founding churches and endowing them with lands the Patrons haue the right of presenting in cases of intollerable abuses negligences or insolencies the Prince as Head of the people assumeth to himselfe the nomination of such as are to serue in the holy Ministery of the church Some there are that thinke the right of the people in choosing their Pastours and Ministers to bee such as that it may not bee limited restrayned or taken away vpon any consideration what-soeuer and that therefore there is no lawfull Election of Ecclesiastical Ministers vnlesse the people chuse But the errour of these men is easily refuted For seeing the Scripture Word of GOD giueth no such power to the people and all the interest they haue or canne claime is but from the ground of humane fellowship subject to many limitations alterations and restraintes there is no reason to thinke that necessarily the people must euer elect their Pastors In the reformed Churches of France Geneua the people giue no voyces in the election of Ministers but are onely permitted if they haue any causes of dislike or exception to make them knowne to the Pastours and guides of the Church and the power of iudging of such exceptions resteth wholy in them In so much that when one Morellius a fantasticall companion sought to bring the elections of Bishoppes and Ministers to bee Popular and swayed by the most voyces of the people hee was condemned by all the Synodes in France as Beza sheweth in his Epistles That there is no precept in the whole new Testament forcing popular elections it is euident And the onely example that is brought of any such thing is that of the seauen Deacons but first there was some speciall reason why the peoples consent was sought in the election of these Deacons beeing to bee trusted with the treasure of the Church and the disposing of the contributions of the faithfull and secondly from one example a generall rule may not bee gathered Seeing the circumstances of things times persons admit infinite varieties some alleadge that place in the Acts for proofe of popular elections where the Apostles are said to haue appointed Elders or Presbyters by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that kind of election that is made by the more part of the voyces of the Electors expressing their consent by lifting vp of their handes as sometimes men shew their consent by going to one side of the place or roome where they are whence they are sayd Pedibus ire insententiam But surely these places are vnaduisedly alledged for proofe of popular elections For first the Apostles onely are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently the election pertayned to them onely and they onely elected for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to elect and not to gather voyces Secondly though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Nice decreed nothing touching this point but left it as they found it The like may bee saide of Hierome For Hierome writing against Vigilantius speaketh of certaine Bishoppes which would ordaine no Deacons vnlesse they marryed wiues thinking that no single men liue chastly who surely if any such were found in those times are not to bee excused But if they onely demaunded first of them that were to bee ordayned before they ordayned them whether they would liue continently or not and if they answered that they would not willed them to marry before they ordained them as Zonaras writing on the Canons of the Apostles sheweth that they doe in the Greeke Church they were not to be blamed Seeing the councell of Ancyra permitted Deacons protesting when they were ordained that they would not liue single to marry after they were entered into Orders But Hierome in opposition to the practise of these men asketh what the Churches of the East of Egypt and of the Apostolicke See shall doe which admit into the Cleargy virgines or such as contayne or such as if they had wiues yet cease to bee husbands whereby it may seeme that this Canon of Bishoppes liuing from their wiues was admitted generally which is contrary to the narration of Socrates But they that vrge these wordes of Hierome should consider first that hee doth not say that these Churches mentioned by him admitted none to the Ministery but such as were single or hauing wiues resolued to liue no longer with them in matrimoniall society but that they admitted such as had neuer beene maryed or hauing had wiues ceased to bee husbands contrary to their practise that would admit none as hee sayth vnlesse they saw their wiues to haue great bellies or heard the children crying in their mothers armes Secondly supposing that these Churches mentioned by Hierome admitted none but such as had neuer beene maryed or hauing beene maryed ceased to bee husbandes hee plainely sheweth by the particular mention of these Churches that there was no such thing generally prevayling and so no way contrarieth the report of Socrates and the rest Wherefore seeing neither Epiphanius nor Hierome will by their contradiction eleuate the authority of Socrates Zozomen and the rest the Cardinall will improue their narration by another meanes The councell of Nice hee sayth forbiddeth Bishoppes Presbyters and Deacons to haue any woman in their houses besides their Mother Sister or Aunt whence hee thinketh it may bee inferred that it did forbid euery of these to haue any Wife dwelling with them in the same house seeing if they might haue wiues they might vndoubtedly haue handmaides to attend them This proofe is no better then the former for in the canons of the Nicene councell translated out of the Arabian tongue and put into the sirst Tome of councels by Binnius out of Alphonsus Pisanus in which as Francis Turrian professeth in his Proeme before the same canons there is nothing but that which is approued and worthy that great Synode of Nice the Decree of the councell is conceiued and expressed in such wordes that it is evident it was neuer meant to bee extended to such Bishoppes Presbyters or Deacons as haue wiues but to such onely as neuer were married or are widowers The wordes are these We decree that Bishoppes dwell not with women neither any Presbyter that is a widower the same is decreed touching euery Presbyter that is vnmarried and the Deacons which haue no wiues and that Priests might liue with their wiues in those times the 78. of those Canons maketh it most cleare for it layeth a more heauy punishment vpon him that hath a wife liuing and liuing with him if hee committe adultery then vpon him that neuer was married or is a widower Wherefore let vs passe from the Councell of Nice to the Councell of Gangra Socrates sheweth that Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia so farre disliked marriage that hee perswaded many women to forsake their husbands that hee contemned married Presbyters condemned the prayers and blessings of Presbyters hauing wiues which they married while they were Lay-men Now it is not to bee imagined that hee would haue despised them if they had put away their wiues for he perswaded to that and many women hearkning vnto him departed from their husbands but because they retayned them still yet did the Councell of Gangra condemne him adding that if any one contrary to the Apostolicall Canons shall presume to put any one of them that haue taken holy orders as Presbyters or Deacons from companying with their wiues he shall be deposed To this we may adde the Sixth Generall Councell holden in Trullo wherein a Decree was passed that such as doe enter into the Ministery being married shall bee permitted to liue with their wiues The wordes of the Councell are these Because wee haue vnderstood that it hath beene deliuered to the Church of Rome for a Canon that Deacons or Presbyters who shall bee thought worthy to be ordained shall professe and promise to company no more with their wiues wee keeping the ancient Canon of Apostolicall perfection and order will and decree that the marriages of such men as are in holy orders hence-forth and from this moment of time shall bee firme and stable no way dissoluing their coniunction with their wiues nor debarring them from companying with them at conuenient times Wherefore if any man be found worthy to bee ordained a Subdeacon Deacon or Presbyter Let him by no meanes bee debarred from entring into such a degree because hee liueth with his lawfull wife neither let it bee required of him at the time of his ordination to promise to refraine from the lawfull companying with his wife least by so doing wee bee forced to doe wrong to marriage ordained of God and blessed by his presence The Evangelicall voyce crying out alowde the thinges which GOD hath ioyned let no man sunder And the Apostle teaching that Marriage is honourable and the bed vndefiled And againe saying Art thou bound to a wife seeke not to bee loosed c. Thus doe the Fathers and Bishoppes assembled in this Councell forbidde and condemne the putting of Presbyters Deacons and Subdeacons from the society with their wiues alleadging the ancient Canon vse and custome and many excellent authorities and reasons out of the Scriptures and word of God shewing that no such thing canne bee done without great iniury to the state of Marriage and without separating those whom God hath joyned together and yet sodainely forgetting themselues they forbidde Bishoppes to liue with their wiues so ouerthrowing the auncient custome and Canon and separating those that God hath ioyned together Whereby that which had beene free from the Apostles times as Zonaras noteth was forbidden the Canon of the Apostles repealed Yet did these Fathers as wee see most carefully prouide that Presbyters and Deacons should not bee restrayned And indeede this liberty hath continued according
commendation and commemoration then vsed was at the Altar but we haue no alâ—… 2. in the holy sacrifice but we admit no sacrifice 3. with intention to relieue the dead but we haue no such intention For answer whereunto I say briefly for he deserueth no large answer that we haue altars in the same sort the Fathers had though we haue throwne downe Popish Altars that wee admit the Eucharist to bee rightly named a sacrifice though we detest the blasphemous construction the Papists make of it And lastly that the Fathers did not intend to relieue all them they remembred at the Altar no more doe we that they accompanyed their friends soules going out of their bodies to stand before God with their prayers and good wishes that they prayed for their resurrection publique acquitall in the day of CHRIST perfit consummation and so doe we that they neuer knew any thing of Purgatory nor neuer prayed to deliuer any one froÌ„ thence no more doe we that therefore D. Humphrey might well impute phrensie to the Romanists as challenging the Fathers in this other points whereas they are destitute of all defence from them That which he interlaceth of froathy volumes in which we silly men for lacke of his direction spend our time is lesse to be esteemed then any bubble or froath vpon the water for all men know that this Church neuer wanted worthy men matchable with the proudest of the adverse Faction in the study of the Fathers Councels Histories and Schoolmen neither is there any decay of these kindes of study now thanks be giuen to God as both our friends enemies I thinke will beare vs witnesse Thus doth this Champion end the first part of his first booke hauing plaide his prizes very handsomely as you see §. 1. IN the second part first hee indeavoureth to proue the perpetuall visibility of the Church which he saith I teach sincerely and effectually though with some mixture of corruption in my Discourse concerning the same but telleth vs not what those corruptions be and therefore I know not what to say to him till I heare farther from him Secondly he laboureth to shew that the visible Church is free from damnable errour which we willingly yeeld vnto but that which he addeth touching the not erring of Generall Councels is not so cleare as it appeareth by that which I haue elsewhere noted out of Picus Mirandula and Waldensis There is extant an excellent conference between Nicholas Clemangis a certaine Parisian Schooleman touching this point wherein he vvilleth him coÌ„sideratly to think vpoÌ„ it lest as he thinketh it to be a matter of rashnes to affirme that Generall couÌ„cels may eâ—…re so likevvise it be not altogether free froÌ„ temerity rashnes pertinaciously to defeÌ„d that general couÌ„cels cannot erre vnles it vvere proued by most stroÌ„g authorities or certain reasons farther addeth that though it vvere most certainly proued that councels cannot erre yet it vvere not fit for them that meet in councels to rely vpon this persvvasioÌ„ lest vnder the shadovv vpoÌ„ the occasioÌ„ of this coÌ„fidence they might proceed vvith lesse coÌ„sideratioÌ„ and more lightly then they should but to make vs doubt that Councels may erre sometimes in their determinations he bringeth sundry reasons whereof one is that the most part of men that are in the Church Hee speaketh of the Church in his time are meerely carnall seeking the thinges of the world and no way sauouring the things of God or regarding the good of the Church that these men are reputed the wisest and most sufficient to manage the affaires of the Church that when Councells are to bee holden either they are chosen or put themselues into such imployments And consequently that things being carried in Councels by voyces there is little reason to expect any great good either for the due setling of the perswasion of men in matters of faith or the reformation of such thinges as are amisse in matters of Discipline and manners Whereupon hee telleth of the ill successe of the Councell of Pisa and of another called at Rome by Balthazar then Pope Into the midst whereof an owle came flying making an horrible noise and satte vpon a beame in the midst of the roome where the Synode was holden as shee had beene President of the assembly and could not bee made to giue place till shee was beaten downe dead yea concerning the Councell of Constance wherein the long-continued Schisme by reason of the Anti-pâ—…pes was ended and the peace of the Church restored hee saith that many thinges fell out in it which were not fruites of the spirit but workes of the flesh as contentions emulations dissentions sectes clamours out-cries mockings and the like But of the erring of Councels I haue else-where treated at large therefore will not insist vpon the repetition of the same thinges in this place Onely lette vs heare what master Higgons canne say for their not erring He thinketh to strike the matter dead with the resolution of Gerson a man as hee saith highly aduanced by me It is true that I esteeme of Gerson as of a most learned iudicious godly man that mourned for the confusions hee saw in the Church in his time that reproued many abuses gaue testimony to many parts of heauenly trueth then contradicted by those carnall men of whom Clemangis speaketh who counted gaine to bee godlinesse and scorned all that liued as beseemeth Christians traducing them as hypocrites and I know not what else Yet I thinke no man will inferre vpon any commendation that I haue giuen him that I must of necessity imbrace as true whatsoeuer hee saith Waldensis is a man highly esteemed by our Romanistes yet will they not allow his opinion that Councells may erre Alphonsus á castro Adrian the Pope and other who teach that the Pope may papally erre are highly prized by them yet will they not graunt that the Pope may erre as they teach but what is it that Gerson saith surely that Whatsoeuer the Pope and a Generall Councell of the whole Church determine must bee receiued as true It is true indeede that hee saith so but it appeareth by the words immediately following that he speaketh not of a Generall Councell consisting of the Bishoppes of the West onely such as was the Councell of Trent in our time But of a Generall Councell consisting both of Greekes and Latines and therefore he saith if the Grecians dissenting from the Latines in the article of the proceeding of the holy Ghost and not admitting the determination of the West Church shall say that the Councell that defined that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the son was not truely Generall that they were not duly called to the same and consequently that notwithstanding their dissenting they are not to be iudged pertinacious obstinate and subiect to the curse it were diligently to be considered what they would say or some fitting meanes were to
be found out that all thinges might bee brought to an agreement without persisting in a peremptory proofe of the same article against them for that men disposed to resist would hardly euer bee conuinced in this point And further hee wisheth men to thinke vpon it whether as some determinations of doubtes and questions passed and agreed on in Paris are saide to binde none but those that are within the Diocesse of Paris so it may not bee said in like sort that the determinations of the Latine Church binde the Latines onely and secondly whether that which is defined and holden as an article of faith â—…ay not bee made to bee no article by bringing thinges to the same state they were in before any determination passed Which thing he exemplifieth in a Decree of Bonifacius voyded by one of his successours To what purpose Master Higgons alleadgeth the opinion of Gerson touching the not erring of Generall Councels I cannot tell for I am well assured neuer any such Councell as yet approued Purgatorie and Prayer to deliuer men out of it nor I thinke euer will But whatsoeuer we thinke of Councells there is no question to bee made but that the Church is free from damnable errour as master Higgons in the title of his chapter vndertaketh to proue But whether it be free from all ignorance and errour as he seemeth in the discourse following to inforce it is not so cleere neitheir doth that text of Saint Paul touching the House of God which is the Church of the liuing GOD the pillar and ground of trueth nor any other authority or reason brought to that purpose proue the same and particularly touching that place of Saint Paul to Timothie it is euident the Apostles wordes are to bee originally vnderstood of the Church of Ephesus and that he maketh the glorious title of pillar and ground of truth common to that particular Church with that which is vniuersall and consequently that this title proueth not euery Church or society of Christians to which it agreeth to bee free from errour vnlesse wee will priuiledge all particular Churches from danger of erring If any man doubt whether the Apostle giue the title of pillar ground of trueth to the Church of Ephesus it is easily proued by vnanswerable reasons For as Lyra writing vpon the wordes of the Apostle rightly noteth The Apostle writeth to Timothy and giueth him directions that hee may know how to behaue himselfe in the Church of God that is how to order and gouerne it Now the Church which Timothy was to order and gouerne was not the vniuersall Church but the Church of Ephesus therefore the Church wherein he was wisely to behaue himself was but a particular Church and the same Church in which the Apostle directeth him how to behaue himself he calleth the Church of the liuing God the pillar ground of trueth therefore he giueth this title to a particular Church though hee restraine it not to it as master Higgons vntruly saith I doe so that I haue not eluded the grauity of this testimony as hee is pleased vniustly to charge me but I giue the right sence of it whence it followeth that seeing particular Churches may bee said to bee pillars of trueth this title doth not proue that society of Christian men to which it agreeth to bee free from all errour From the reprehension of our opinion in that wee thinke the Church subiect to some kinde of errour hee falleth into a discourse touching the confusions of Protestants admitting innumerable sectaries into one vast and incongruous Church which hee saith is a meere Chymera thrust together and fashioned in specificall disproportions and hence he saith it is that I laying the foundation of my Babell feare not to say that the Churches of Russia Armenia Syria Aethiopia and Greece are and continue partes of the true Catholique Church For answere whereunto I say that wee doe not admitte any Sectaries into the Communion of the true Catholicke Church much lesse innumerable Sectaries for wee admitte none into the Communion of our Churches but such as receiue all the lawfull Generall Councells that euer were holden touching any question of faith the three Creedes of the Apostles of Nice and Athanasius and whatsoeuer is found to haue beene beleeued and practised by all not noted for singularity and nouelty at all times and in all places So reiecting Arrians Zuenchfeldians Anabaptistes Familistes and all other like monsters Touching the differences betweene the Churches of England Denmarke Zueden Germany France c. They are not specificall as this bad Logician fancieth but imaginary or meerely accidentall And for the Churches of Greece Russia Armenia Syria Aethiopia agreeing in all the thinges before mentioned it is most strange that this Schismaticall fugitiue should dare vtterly to reiect them from the vnity of the Catholicke Church and to cast into hell so many millions of soules of poore distressed Christians for so many hundred yeares enduring so many bitter things for Christs sake in the midst of the proudest enemies that euer the name of Christ had That all these admitte the Doctrine of faith agreed on in all the lawfull generall councels that euer were holden the three Creeds and the whole forme of Christian doctrine catholickely consented on and that they reiect and condemne all the heresies condemned by Augustine and Epiphanius it shall be proued if Higgons or any other smatterer of that side shall goe about to improue it It is true indeede that the Armenians refused to admitte the Councell of Chalcedon but it was vpon a false suggestion as I haue else-where shewed And it is most certaine that they condemne the heresie of Eutiches as likewise those other that were condemned in the Fift and Sixt councells and though the Grecians seeke to avoide the euidence of that part of Athanasius Creede touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost yet doe they not deny the Creed it selfe and my Gerson as Master Higgons is pleased to call him thinketh it were better to desist from the strict vrging of the allowance of thaâ—… determination of the Latines touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost that both the Churches might bee reduced to vnity then peremptorily to insist vpon the proofe of it seeing men disposed to resist will very hardly euer bee conuinced so that hee doth not thinke as Master Higgons doth that the not admitting of this Article as defined and determined by Athanasius casteth men into hell for then Saint Iohn Damascene should bee damned who denieth the proceeding of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne after the publishing of Athanasius Creed Thus doe wee moderate our censures not daring to cast all into hell that dissent from vs in some particular points not fundamentall as the Romanists doe yet doe wee not thinke that euery one may bee saued in his owne sect and errour whatsoeuer it bee for wee exclude all such out of the communion of
Who would not thinke that there were some grosse ouersights committed by Mee in these passages vppon such an outcrie Wherefore lette vs consider the seuerall parts of this his exception against Mee First hee sayth the Bishoppe of Constantinople was not preferred before the other two Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioch and set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishop of Rome in the first Councell of Constantinople as I haue sayd and that I say vntruly when I say hee was Let vs therefore heare the wordes of the Canon it selfe and then let the Reader iudge betweene vs. The words of the third Canon of that Councell are these Constantinopolitanus Episcopus obtineat praecipuum honorem ac dignitatem secundum ac post Episcopum Romanum ideo quòd Constantinopolis noua Roma est that is Let the Bishop of Constantinople haue the chiefest honour and dignity after the Bishoppe of Rome because Constantinople is new Rome If the words of the Canon suffice not to iustifie my assertion let vs heare the Treatiser himselfe in the same page hee citeth these words of the Bishoppes assembled in the Councell of Chalcedon in their Synodall Epistle to Leo Bishoppe of Rome Wee haue confirmed the rule of the hundred and fifty holy Fathers which were gathered together at Constantinople vnder Theodosius of happie memory which commaunded that the See of Constantinople which is ordained the second and to haue second honour after your most holy and Apostolique See c. Is not here as much sayd as I haue written Did not the holy Fathers assembled at Constantinople decree that the Bishoppe of Constantinople shall bee preferred before the Bishoppes of Alexandria and Antioch and set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishoppe of Rome and doe not the Fathers in the Councell of Chalcedon say they decreed soe Haue all these holy Fathers committed notorious vntrueths to the Print and view of the world It is well the Treatiser concealed his name for otherwise hee must haue heard further from Mee But happily I mis-reported the Councell of Chalcedon when I sayd that in that Councell the Bishoppe of Constantinople was made equall with the Bishoppe of Rome and to haue equall rights priuiledges and prerogatiues because hee was Bishoppe of new Rome as the other of old Let vs therefore heare the words of the Bishoppes assembled in that Councell The Fathers say the Bishops of that Councell did rightly giue preeminences and priuiledges to the Throne of old Rome because that â—…ittie was Lady and mistresse of the world and the hundred and fifty Bishops most deeâ—…ely beloued of God moued with the same respect gaue equall preeminences and priuiledges to the most holy throne of New Rome thinking it reasonable that that Cittie honoured with the inperiall seate and Senate and enioying equall preeminences and priuiledges with the elder Princely city should bee made great as the other in ecclesiasticall affaires being second after it Out of this decree Nilus in his booke of the Primacie of the Pope obserueth first that in the iudgement of these holy Bishoppes the Pope hath the primacie from the Fathers and not from the Apostles Secondly that he hath it in respect of the greatnesse of his Citty beeing the seate of the Empire and not by reason of his succeding Peter which vtterly ouerthroweth the Papacie And therefore this good man after all this outery raised against Mee as if I had mis-reported the Councell is forced to deny the authority of the Canon as not beeing confirmed by the Bishoppe of Rome See then how hee demeaneth himselfe First hee vrgeth that the Bishoppe of new Rome or Constantinople could not haue equall priuiledges with the Bishoppe of old Rome because hee was to bee second and next after him where-unto Nilus answereth that if that reason did hold the Bishoppe of Alexandria could not bee equall to the Bishoppe of Constantinople in power and authority nor the Bishoppe of Antioch vnto him one of these beeing after another in order and honour and thence concludeth that if the Bishop of Antioch might bee equall to the Bishoppe of Alexandria and the Bishoppe of Alexandria to the Bishoppe of Constantinople notwithstanding the placing of one of them in order and honour before another the Bishoppe of Constantinople might bee equall to the Bishoppe of Rome though he were the second and next after him Soe that that which this Treatiser alleageth that by the confession of these Fathers the Bishoppe of Rome had alwaies the Primacy is to no purpose seeing the Primacie hee had was but of order and honour which may bee yeelded to one amongst them that are equall in power in which sense the Bishoppes assembled in the Councell of Chalcedon in their relation to Pope Leo call him their head Secondly hee confesseth it may be gathered out of some Greeke copies of this Councell hee might haue sayd out of all copies Greeke and Latine that by this Canon the Bishop of new Rome or Constantinople was soe made second after the Bishop of old Rome that equall priuiledges were giuen vnto him But addeth that they were onely concerning iurisdiction to ordaine certaine Metropolitans of the East Church as the Bishoppe of Rome had the like in the West which euasion serueth not the turne For the Bishops in this Councell supposing that the reason why the Fathers gaue the preeminence to the Bishoppe of Rome was the greatnesse of the Citty doe the â—…pon giue him the like preheminences Soe that they meant to make him equall generally and not in some particular thinges onely Besides if they did equall him in iurisdiction and in the ordination and confirmation of Metropolitans it will follow that they equalled him simply and absolutely For in the power of Order there canne bee noe inequalitie betweene him and any other Bishoppe Thirdly hee sayth That the Canon of this Councellis of no authority and the like he must say of the Canons of the first Councell of Constantinople and that in Trulto and so beare downe all that standeth in his way as Binnius and other of his fellowes do who feare not to charge these holy Fathers and Bishops with lying falshood But how doth he proue that this Canon is of no authority Surely the onely reason he bringeth is because the Legates of the Bishop of Rome resisted against it and the Bishop himselfe neuer confirmed it which is of litle force For we know that notwithstanding the long continued resistance of the Romane Bishops yet in the end they were forced to giue way to this constitution So that after the time of Iustinian the Emperour who confirmed the same they neuer made any word about it any more The words of Iustinians confirmation are these Wee ordaine according to the decrees of the holy Councels that the most holy Bishop of olde Rome shall be the first of all Bishops And the most blessed Bishop of Constantinople which is new Rome shall haue the second place after
thē but to the defect of the light of naturall reasō foūd in thē or the want of due consideratiō right proceeding in the searching out of such things as are so to be known so likewise it is not to be imputed to the want of evidence of the truth of the things or at least of Gods speaking in the word of Heauenly Truth that all men beleeue not all the bookes that are diuine canonical the things contained in thē but to thedefect of spirituall light in thē that should discerne such things or the want of due cōsideratiō right proceeding in the searching out of such things Secondly he laboureth to proue that none of the articles of faith or things beleeued by vs are evident vnto vs in the light offaith whereas yet notwithstanding Hugo de sancto Victore sayth expresly that in some the light of diuine reason causeth approbation of that they beleeue that in other the purity of the heart conscience causeth a fore-tasting of those things which hereafter more fully shall be enioyed And Alexander of Ales pronounceth that the things apprehended by vs in diuine knowledge are more certainly discerned by such as are spirituall in the certainty of experience in the certainty which is in respect of affection by way of spirituall taste feeling then any thing is discerned in the light of naturall vnderstanding according to that of the Prophet How sweet are thy wordes O Lord vnto my mouth they are sweeter then the hony and the hony combe Wherefore that wee may the more distinctly conceiue these things wee must obserue that there are some things which though without revelation we could not know yet after they are revealed are evident vnto vs in the light of grace As first that the defects euils that are found in the nature of man the blindnes of his vnderstanding the way wardnes of his affections and perverse inclination of his will were not from the beginning that hauing beene in all the sonnes of men the first parents of mankind fell from their originall primitiue estate and that seeing these euils are found in all euen in litle infants new borne the propagation of them is naturall and not by imitation Secondly that the very inclinations of our hearts beeing naturally euill in this corrupt state of nature nothing can change them to good but GOD by a speciall worke aboue and beyond the course of Nature which therefore may rightly be named grace Other thinges there are which are discerned by spirituall taste and feeling as the remission of sinnes the joy and exultation of heart that is there found where God is present in grace And a third sort of thinges there are which being not discerned to bee true eyther of these two wayes are beleeued notwithstanding because deliuered vnto vs by God whom wee discerne to speake in the word of heavenly trueth So that the two former sortes of thinges are euident in themselues to them that are spirituall the latter in respect of that Medium by force whereof they are beleeued which is Diuine authority deliuering them vnto vs which thing Hugo de Sancto Victore excellently expresseth Credit fides saith he quod non vidit non vidit quod credit vidit tamen aliquid per quod admonita est excitata credere quod non vidit Deus sic ab initio notitiam sui ab homine temperauit vt sicut nunquam quid esset totum poterat comprehendi sic quod esset nunquam prorsus posset ignorari Oportuit vt proderet se occultum Deus ne totus celaretur propsus nesciretur rursum ad aliquid proditum se agnitum occultaret ne totus manifestaretur vt aliquid esset quod cor hominis enutriret cognitum rursus aliquid quod absconditum prouocaret That is Faith beleeveth that it neuer saw and it neuer saw that which it doth beleeue yet it saw something by which it was admonished and stirred vppe to beleeue that which it saw not God from the beginning did so temper the revealing of himselfe to bee knowne of men that as it could never bee wholly comprehended what he was so it might neuer be altogether vnknowne that he was It was fitte therefore that God should manifest himselfe formerly hid that hee might not bee wholly hidden and no knowledge had of him and againe that having in some sort reuealed and made himselfe knowne hee should so hide himselfe as not wholly to bee manifested that there might bee something which being knowne might nourish the heart of man and againe something which being hid might prouoke and stirre men vp to a desire of attayning some farther thing These things it seemeth the Treatiser thought not of and therefore denyeth that there is any motiue sufficient to make a man beleeue the articles of the fayth setting aside the meane supernaturall by which they are propounded and therevpon asketh Mee what maketh Me beleeue the articles of the Trinity the two distinct natures in Christ in the Vnity of the same person and the resurrection of the dead Wherevnto I answere that the thing that moueth mee so to beleeue is the authority of the Scripture which is the Word of God and that I beleeue it to bee the Word of God because I doe most certainely discerne him to speake in the same and a certaine diuine force and Majesty to present it selfe vnto Mee though the prophane Treatiser professeth hee knoweth not what that authority and Majesty of God is which is discerned in the sacred Scriptures nor how wee discerne it which is not to bee marvayled at seeing blind men cannot discerne the difference of colours but that there is something more then humane discernable in the Scripture all deuout and religious men will acknowledge with vs. Beleeue Mee sayth Picus Mirandula there lyeth hidde in the Scripture a secret vertue strangely altering and changing them that in due sort are conversant in the same So that the reason that all doe not discerne the Majesty of God in all bookes that are diuine and that some doubt of such as other admitte is not because such a diuine power is not discernable in them but because there is some defect in the parties not discerning the same To the former most weake reasons brought to proue the insufficiency of those inducements or reasons by which wee thinke the Spirit of GOD setleth vs in a perswasion of the truth of thinges contayned in the Scripture First hee addeth an vntruth to witte that I deny those parts of Scripture which rehearse matters of fact to bee knowne to be divine by the authority of God himselfe discerned to speake in the Word of faith And secondly an objection that men cannot know the Scripture to be diuine by discerning the Majesty of God speaking in them vnlesse they reade or heare euery part of them read ouer which is very hard to bee
knowledge of the tongues may be and is most necessary After all these exceptions taken against the helpes and rules proposed by me for the finding out of the true meaning of Scripture the Treatiser setteth on mee a fresh in fiercer manner then before and requireth me to bring some diuine testimony proofe or argument or some particular reason of the necessity and sufficiency of these helpes and rules Whereunto I briefly answer that if any Papist vnder Heauen can take any exception against any of these helpes and rules proposed by mee or deuise any other I will iustifie the necessity and sufficiencie of them but otherwise I thinke it altogether needlesse to proue that the Sunne shineth at noone 〈◊〉 to shew by reason or authority that spirituall things cannot bee discerned but by spirituall men The Treatiser therefore returneth and taketh new exceptions against the helpes and rules proposed by mee first affirming but most vntruely that the greater part of my brethren will not allow them and secondly labouring to improue them by reason For first that an illumination of the minde is not necessarie for the vnderstanding of the Scripture hee goeth about to shew because if such illumination bee necessarie no man can be assured of the truth of another mans interpretation seeing no man can tell whether hee haue an illumination of the vnderstanding and a minde disposed in such sort as is required or not Whereunto I answer that it is true that no man can assure himselfe that another mans interpretation is true good out of any knowledge of such personall things in the interpreter yet may hee know it to bee true out of the nature of the thing it selfe and thence inferre that either hee that so interpreteth or they from whom hee receiued such interpretation had a diuine illumination For even as to discourse of the nature of colours presupposeth that the man that so discourseth hath or had sight if hee speake thereof with any apprehension of that hee speaketh though a blinde man hauing heard the discourses of other may vse like wordes without all sense and apprehension of that hee speaketh So no man can interprete the Scriptures and discourse of the thinges therein contayned with sence and feeling but such a one whose minde is enlightned though prophane persons and such as bee voyde of all diuine illumination may as from others interprete the Scripture and discourse of such diuine thinges as are therein And as a man may assure himselfe that another mans discourse of colours is good out of the nature of the thing it selfe though hee know not whether hee haue or euer had such sence of seeing as is requisite in him that will speake of colours with any apprehension so a man may know that another mans interpretation is true though hee know not whether he haue such an illumination of mind as is necessary for the vnderstanding of the things contayned in the Scripture Secondly hee vndertaketh to shew that no man can eyther assure himselfe that he hath the true meaning of Scripture or conuince the gaine-sayers by following the direction of the former rules because as hee supposeth a man cannot certainely know that hee hath an illumination of minde that hee hath obserued those rules that hee is disposed as hee should bee and furnished with learning in such sort as is requisite Whereunto first I answere briefly that it is as possible for a man to know whether he haue an illumination of the mind or not as it is whether he haue the light of naturall reason Secondly that the obseruation of the rules formerly mentioned and the disposition of a mans mind resolued to embrace the trueth may as easily be knowen as any other motions purposes and resolutions Neither is it more hard for a man that is spirituall to know whether hee bee sufficiently furnished with learning requisite for the vnderstanding of the Scripture then for a naturall man to knowe whether hee haue learning enough to vnderstand Aristotle or any other prophane authour Thirdly in confutation of the former rules hee alledgeth that they may not be admitted as necessary because if they bee all such as haue no illumination of minde nor willing disposition to embrace the truth when it shal be manifested to thē must be excluded out of the number of faithfull ones Which if he thinke to be an absurdity it is no great matter what he saith but he addeth that they that are vnlearned haue not the knowledge of all those arts and sciences that are necessary for the vnderstanding of sundry parts of Scripture nor of those originall tongues wherein they were written without the knowledge whereof they cannot be vnderstood whereas yet they are to build their fayth vpon the Scripture rightly vnderstood whence it will follow that all such must be excluded out of the number of the faythfull This indeed is such a consequence as must not be admitted neither is there any such thing consequent vpon that which we say For though all men haue not that knowledge of arts sciences and tongues that is necessary for the exact vnderstanding of all parts passages of Scripture yet may they vnderstand so much of the same as is necessary to saluation without the knowledge of arts sciences the things that are so precisely necessary being deliuered in very plaine easie and familiar termes Neither is it necessary that if a man will build his faith vpon the Scripture that he must vnderstand euery part of it Onely one scruple remayneth which is that an ignorant man can haue no certaine ground of his faith if he build the same vpon the Scripture because lacking the knowledge of tongues he cannot know whether it be truely translated or not but this scruple may easily be remoued seeing an ignorant man out of the Scripture it selfe duely proposed explayned and interpreted vnto him may know it to be diuine heauenly inspired of God and consequently that in what tongue soeuer it was written it is truely translated touching the substance howsoeuer happily there may be some accidentall aberrations whereof he cannot judge After these exceptions taken against the helpes rules proposed by me as necessary for the finding out of the sence and meaning of the Scripture the Treatiser obseruing no order in his writings addresseth himselfe to proue that we haue no certaine meanes whereby to know that the Scriptures are of God or which they bee and then returneth againe to proue that we haue no certaine rule whereby to be assured we haue the sence of them But all that hee sayth to this purpose may easily bee answered For first the truth of Christian doctrine is diuinely proued vnto vs by the satisfaction wee finde in the same touching things wherein naturall reason left vs vnresolued and the effects wee finde to follow vppon the receiuing of it Secondly that Christian doctrine is reuealed it is euident because staying within the confines of the light of naturall
famous in all ages the testimony of the Pastors of an Apostolique church successiuely deliuered frō the beginning not the present testimony of an Apostolicall church Thirdly we will neuer admit any pretended traditions vnlesse they may be confirmed vnto vs by one of these rules if our Adversaries can proue any of their supposed traditions by these rules wee will willingly acknowledge them and therefore I know no reason why we may not make claime vnto them He addeth that I condemne priuate interpretations as if euer any Protestant had allowed any priuate interpretation in that sense that I dislike it or as if our Religion were grounded vpon priuate interpretations But the good man might haue beene pleased to remember that in the place cited by him I distinguish three kindes of private interpretations whereof one is named priuate for that they that so interprete neglect the common rules of direction rely vpon secret revelations knowne to none but themselues and despise the iudgment of other men Another because the person so interpreting is priuate and yet presumptuously taketh vpon him to force all others to embrace the same hauing no authority so to do The 3d is whē as the person is of private conditiō so he seeketh only to satisfie himself in it no way presumeth to prescribe to others to follow that he resolueth on farther then by reason higher authority he can inforce the same The first kind of private interpretations we detest accurse The 2. we condemne as presumptuous The 3d we approue so do our Adversaries for ought I know and therefore I know not to what purpose hee citeth this saying of mine that priuate men may not so propose their interpretations as if they would bind all other men to embrace and receiue them That which followeth that I make three kindes of interpretation and affirme that none haue authority so to interprete Scripture as that they may subject all that dissent from the same to excommunication and censures of like nature but Bishops assembled in a generall Councell is so true that neither hee nor any other in his right wits will euer deny it For who hath authority so to interprete Scripture as to subiect them to excommunication that dissent but the gouernors of the church and who so as to subject all that dissent but they that are the gouernors of the whole as are the Bishops of the whole Christian church assembled in a generall Councel But saith he Protestants haue neuer had any generall Councell therefore they haue no warranted interpretations of Scripture If this consequence be good the Christians for the space of 300 yeares after Christ had no warranted interpretations of Scripture for till the reigne of Constantine there was no generall councell But the Protestants can haue no generall councell therefore they haue not amongst them the highest supreme binding authority judgment Surely wee confesse that being but a part of the Christian church they cannot haue a Councell absolutely generall out of themselues alone and therefore not hauing the highest binding authority amongst them it being found only in the whole vniuersall church they do not take vpon thē so to interprete Scriptures as to subiect all to excommunication that refuse their interpretations but such particular churches persons only as are vnder their jurisdiction The Papists indeede in the heigth of their pride being but a part contemning all other interessed in the supreame binding judgement as well as themselues assume and appropriate it to themselues alone in which claime we may rather see the height of their pride thē the cleernesse of their right and therefore the Grecians impute all the diuisions and breaches of the Christian world vnto them in that they presumed of themselues without them to interprete the Scriptures and to define certain questions touching the faith in such sort that they subjected them to Anathema excommunication so casting them all into hell as much as lay in them These inconsiderate proceedings and rash censures did such harme that the wisest most religious moderate in the Latine Church wished they had neuer beene passed or that they were reuersed called backe again But saith he let any man enter into a serious consideration of Protestant doctrine in this point that vnder paine of damnation we are bound to find and follow the truth that generall Councels as before may subiect euery man disobeying their determinations to excommunication and censures of like nature the most terrible and fearefull punishment of this world and all iudgments Ecclesiasticall euen generall Councels may erre haue erred even in things pertayning to God as is defined in their Articles and is commonly taught beleeued with them this consideration is able to put men not regardlesse of saluation into more then a quaking palsey What the meaning of the good man is in this passage I doe not well conceiue For I see not but all these considerations may well stand together that the trueth is to be found out followed vpon paine of damnation that Councels may erre and yet haue power to subiect such as disobey their determinations to excommunication the most terrible and fearefull punishment of this world without any danger of causing men to fall into a quaking palsey For are they all in state of damnation that are excommunicated whether iustly or vniusty or may no man subiect men to excommunication but hee that cannot erre Surely all men knowe that not onely Popes and particular Bishops but euen generall Councels may erre in matters of fact and excommunicate a man vniustly for resisting their determinations And doth not Saint Augustine shew that by the meanes of preuailing factions men may be vniustly excommunicated and neuer restored to the outward communion of the church againe and yet die in state of saluation nay bee rewarded for the patient enduring of the wrongs offered them by them by whom they were excommunicate It is no such absurd thing then that they may erre who haue authority to excōmunicate But perhaps his meaning is that if Coūcels may erre there is no certaine way to find out the truth which yet euery man is bound vpon perill of damnation to find and follow and that it is the consideration hereof that is able to put a man into a quaking palsey Surely this man seemeth to feare where there is no feare for are there no other meanes to find out the truth when questions and doubts trouble the church and distract the mindes of men but generall Councels How did the Fathers in the Primitiue Church during the time of the first three hundred yeares satisfie themselues and such as depended of them in the midst of so many so horrible and damnable heresies as then rose vp Doth not Bellarmine from hence inferre that though generall Councells be a very fit and good meanes to end controversies and settle the differences that may arise in the church
groūded vpon it is ouerthrown If this be all I hope the worst is past for if I should grant as he maketh me absurdly to doe that we haue neither Scripture nor tradition but by tradition yet cannot those rules I assigne to know true traditions by propose vnto vs false Scriptures or traditions For what are they but the constant practise of the whole Christian church from the beginning the consent of the most famous learned in all ages or at least in diuerse ages no man contradicting or doubting and the constant testimony of the pastors of Apostolicall churches from their first establishment successiuely witnessing the same things Indeed if these rules could propose vnto vs false traditions false Scriptures or expositions of the difficulties thereof our faith could not be certaine all religion were ouerthrowne but neither he nor all the Diuels in hell shall euer force vs to acknowledge any such thing neither is there any point of Romish superstition proued by any such traditions as are found to bee true traditions by these rules But will some man say doth he make no shew of proofe that we acknowledge these rules may propose vnto vs false traditions false Scriptures expositions of the difficulties in them Doubtlesse he doth For thus he concludeth very terribly against vs. The testimony and iudgment of the Patriarches or Bishops of Apostolicall Sees is one of the rules assigned to know true traditions by but wee acknowledge that the Patriarches of Apostolicke Sees did erre in the Councell of Florence propose vnto vs false expositions of Scripture therefore we must confesse whether we will or not that the rules we assigne may propose vnto vs false Scriptures false expositions of Scripture Vnto this concluding argument wherein the force of the whole chapter lieth we answere briefly and peremptorily First that the maior proposition is most false as hee well knoweth for I neuer make the judgement and opinion of the present Bishops of Apostolicall churches to be the rule to know true traditions by but deny it and professe the contrary against the Papists and make onely the testimony of the Pastours of Apostolicall churches successiuely from the beginning witnessing the same things to bee a rule in this kinde Secondly that the Patriarches of the Apostolicke Sees hee speaketh of were not at the councell of Florence in their owne persons but had others to supply their places whose proceedings they disclaimed and voyded whatsoeuer they did in their names because they presumed to discusse and determine diuers matters of controuersie without directions and instructions from them But howsoeuer we thinke of the proceedings in this Councell yet he sayth no Protestant church can shew any such authority for their cause as that of the Councels of Florence Constance and Trent It had beene well if hee had beene better aduised before hee had so much disenabled vs for he shall finde that we can and will shew farre greater authority for our cause then the late Councels of Florence Constance and Trent and that in the weightiest points of all other For did not the Bishops in the great Councell of Chalcedon professe openly that the reason why the Fathers gaue the preëminence to the Bishoppe of Rome was the greatnesse of his city being the seate of the Emperours and that they thought it fit to giue equall priuiledges to the Bishop of Constantinople for the same cause seeing it was become the seate of the Emperors and named new Rome Did not the 6. generall Councell in Trullo confirme the same parity of the B. of Constantinople with the B. of Rome and doe not the decrees of these two Councells shake in peeces the whole frame fabricke of the Papacy Did not the second fourth and sixth Councels c. make the B. of Constantinople a patriarch and set him in degree of honour before the other two of Alexandria and Antioche notwithstanding the resistance of the Romane Bishops their claime from Peter Did not the sixth generall Councell blame the Church of Rome for sundry things and particularly among other for forcing married mē entring into the orders of ministery to forsake the matrimoniall society of their wiues Did not the Councell of Nice referre both Bishops and other inferiour clergy-men to be ordered by their owne Metropolitanes and the Councels of Africa therevpon condemne appeales to Rome Did not the Councell of Eliberis forbid the lighting of tapers in the Coemiteries or places of buriall to the disquieting of the spirits of the Saintes departed and did it not abolish those pernoctations in the places of buriall which Hierome vrged so violently against Vigilantius and forbid the hauing of any pictures in churches Ne quod colitur aut adoratur in parietibus depingatur Doth not the Canon of the Apostles prescribe that all the faithfull that come together in the Church and communicate not in the Sacrament shall be excommunicate which also the Councell of Antioche reuiveth and confirmeth Doth not Gelasius command all them to bee excommunicated that receiuing the Sacrament of the Lords body abstaine from the participation of the cuppe Did not the church of Rome thinke it so farre necessary that the people should communicate in both kindes that Ordo Romanus prescribeth on good Friday when they consecrate not but receiue that which was reserued being consecrated the day before they should take wine consecrate it by putting or dipping the body of the Lord into it with pronouncing the Lords prayer that so the people might receiue the whole Sacrament and yet now the halfe communion is sufficient Did not the Mileuitane and Arausicane Councels condemne those errours touching the strength of nature and power of free-will to performe the workes of vertue without assistance of speciall grace which since haue beene receiued in the Romane Schooles as if they had beene catholicke verities The like might bee shewed in many other particulars but these may suffice Wherefore let vs proceed to his eigth chapter CHAP. 8. IN this chapter first hee sheweth that generall Councels are of highest authority in the Church of God and secondly laboureth to proue that they testifie for Romish Religion To proue that Councels are of highest authority in the Church of God which no man denyeth he produceth the testimonies of the Bishop of Winchester Doctour Morton the Protestant Relator of Religion and Doctour Sutcliffe And lastly addeth that I am clearely of the same opinion assuring all men that the interpretations of Scripture proposed by priuate men are not so proposed and vrged by them as if they would binde all others to receiue them and that none but Bishops assembled in a Generall Councell may interprete Scriptures in such sort as by their authority to suppresse all them that gaine-say such interpretations For so are my words which hee hath altered to make men thinke I allow none in any sort to interprete Scriptures but generall Councels wherein he wrongeth me as he well knoweth seeing I