are no Catholicke Christians do professe the same as hath bene already euidently shewed that is to say they will openly beare the world in hand that they build their whole Religion vpon the maine foundation of the Scriptures wheras notwithstanding it is out of question that they rather build vpon their owne idle heades and fanaticall spirits forsomuch as they deduce their acknowledgement of Scriptures and the interpretation thereof from their owne braine sense and priuate fancy and not from any more stable authority at all 21. This is made euident and perspicuous if we exnmine any the least sect or sectary in the world or compare many of sundry sectes togeather for that euery one of them though as opposite among themselues as heauen and hell light and darkenes God and Beliall yet will all pretend to build vpon God his word all will appeale vnto Scriptures the Lutheran Caluiuist Anabaptist Brownist Protestant and euery other sectary but when you tye them to the point bring them to the examination of the Scriptures question them concerning these two particulers to wit which is Scripture how it is to be vnderstood then do they appeare in the liuely colours of Heretickes then do they discouer their owne hereticall fancies to be both all and the chiefe groundes that euer they had to build their religion vpon as by the ensuing Considerations will better appeare in both the heads before touched The third Consideration IF the Oracle of the Prophets and Apostles the diuine VVrit I meane so called because the holy Scriptures were written by the ministery of Propheticall and Apostolicall men be in their owne nature of that sublime excellency and transcendent eminency as hath bene formerly decyphered and discouered vnto vs If the authority of the said sacred Writ be not humane but diuine not the word of any mortall mā nor proceding frō any earthly spirit but the word of the immortall God breathed nō his heauenly spirit and consequently if it be not in it selfe most holy sacred sure certaine and of infallible truth then let vs assuredly know that as on the one side it is a capitall crime of sacriledge to decree any thing for Scripture which is not or to intrude any humane writing into the participation or association of Gods Diuine word so it is a sinne no lesse damnable on the other side to call rashly into question or to disauthorize any part or parcell of that which is Scripture indeed or to deny therunto the honour due to diuine and sacred Writ and therfore it highly importeth vs aswell in the one as in the other to mannage our selues with all humility sobriety modesty and circumspection in a matter so weighty as the Scripture is and so neerely concerning the eternall saluation or damnation of our soules 23. Now then if the point standeth thus it behoueth vs indeed if in any other matter then especially in this to vse all carefull and exact diligence that we may find out that certaine rule and infallible direction before mentioned that by the immediate guidance thereof we may most certainely attaine vnto this to wit to know what is truly Scripture and what is not if euer this were necessary then much more in these later and worser daies and times of schisme and heresie when as no small controuersies are stirred vp about the same 24. For wheras so many dangerous Sects and heresies of perdition to speake in the phrase of the holy Ghost are raised vp from hell in these our vnfortunate times vnfortunate indeed in respect or them and that within the compasse of one age since one luxurious Luther opened the first gappe to the generall detection all which schismes and heresies as before hath bene notifyed couertly shroud themselues vnder the name and pretensed veile of Scripture the first contention and now most necessary question to be discussed with them is what books of the Bible or partes therof are truely Scripture what are to be wiped away to be cut offrō the sacred Canō of holy writ and all to this end that we may vndoubtedly know vpon what groundes we may stand safely in citing authorities from thence 25. Furthermore forasmuch as all the bookes of the sacred Bible Gods holy volume haue cōmonly anciētly hitherto bene deuided into these three orders or rankes the first into such as were neuer called into questiō by Catholick men though there neuer wanted hereticks calling thēselues Christians reformed Christians as the Protestants do at this day that impugned the same as the Basilidims and the Marcionists reiecting the ould Testament as indited by an euill God and Faustus Manichaeus contemning all the foure Ghospelles as written by impostors 26. The second into such bookes as albeit some men did for some time doubt whether they were Canonicall or not yet afterwardes they are receiued into Canon by the whole Church that is held for diuine books written by the spirit of God and of such infallible truth as they may be a Canon or rule or sure direction vnto our infirmity for any thing that is found in them For so S. Augustine from the Etimology of the word describeth the meaning of the word Canonicall being applied as a fit Epethete vnto the Scriptures 27. The third order is into such bookes which notwithstanding they go ordinary in the common Bibles and containe in them many good morall instructions of piety and were sometimes by some particuler men esteemed for essentiall partes of the Scripture yet were they neuer so accompted by the vniuersall Church and therfore they are called Apecrypha that is hidden or obscure for that their authority was neuer receaued or published generally in the Church and for such are reckoned the third and fourth of Esdras the Appendix of the booke of Iob the booke of Hieremy intituled Pastor the prayer of King Manasses and finally the 151. Psalme 28. I say now this tripartite diuision of holy Writ being thus generally admitted and receiued by all orthodoxe Deuines doth it not concerne euery man that is carefull of his soules saluation to inquire diligently after the pursuite and knowledg of these things especially in this generall sommoning and appealing of all vnto the Scriptures for the finall decision of all Controuersies 29. And now to speake something to the point concerning these three rankes and orders of books The third of these is generally reiected by all as well Catholickes as Protestants the first is admitted by all All the question then is concerning the second and this comprehendeth sundry bookes both of the old and new Testament as of Hester Baruch certaine parcelles of Daniel the bookes of Tobias Iudith Sapientia Ecclesiasticus and the first and second of Machabees out of the ould Testament and certaine parts of the Ghospell of S. Marke S. Luke and S. Iohn with the Epistles of S. Iames S. Iude the 2. of S. Peter the 2. and 3. of S. Iohn and the Apocalyps
vseth his owne election siue ad instituendas siue ad suscipiendas haereses whether it be to be an authour of Heresy or a follower as Tertullian speaketh in the place before cyted and all this he doth according to his owne iudgment and fancy ascribing litle or rather nothing at all to the authority of the Church in any thing that misliketh his owne iudgment so that in conclusion these two men are most opposite the one to the other 11. The first cleare knowledg that euer the Church had of this peculiar and Ecclesiasticall appropriation of these two words Catholicke Hereticke was from the holy Ghost inspirer of all truth as hath byn formerly noted and to beginne first with the last the very first intimation giuen of that odious and pestiferous appellation of Heresy or Hereticke was by the Apostles theÌ„selues as namely S. Paul to the Corinth There must be heresies that those who be approued may be manifested amongst you which manifestation Tertull. saith is meant aswel of those tam qui in persecutionibê° steterint quaÌ„ quiad haereses exorbitauerint who haue remained constaÌ„t in persecutions as they who haue not declined out of the right path to follow heresies So he Secondly the same Apostle in his Epistle to Titus writeth thus Auoid an Hereticall man after one or two reprehensioÌ„s knowing that such a one is subuerted and sinneth as daÌ„ned by his owne proper iudgement Id non tam infirmitate ac ignorantia quà m spontanea malitia de obstinata industria peccat For so I may well expound it that is he sinneth not so much of infirmity and ignorance as he doth of voluntary malice and obstinate industry or els eligit sibi in quo damnatur as Tertullian giueth the sense his owne election maketh good his owne daÌ„nation And as S. Paul inueighed thus against Heresy Hereticks so did S. Peter as you shall read 2. Pet. 2. branding them for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 damnable heresies and the teachers of them for such as brought vpon themselues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swift damnation or as it is rendred in another place immediatly following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their damnation sleepeth not Can any thing be spoken more terrible to forwarne vs of heresy and hereticks then this Excellent therefore is the counsaile of Tertullian wishing vs to auoid an hereticke post vnam correptionem non post disputationem adeo interdixit disputationem correptionem designans causam haeretici conueniendi hoc vnam scilicet quia non est christianus ne more Christiani semel iterum sub duobus aut tribus testibus castigandus videretur cum ob hoc sit castigandus propter quod non sit cum illo disputandum After one reprehension and not after a disputation for that the Apostle did therefore forbid disputation because the speaking with an Heretick should be for his reprehension and this onely once because he is no Christian least after the manner of a Christian he should seeme to be chastised once and againe and that by two or three witnesses when for this cause he is to be chastised because there is no disputation to be had with such a one 12. And although the word Heresy be vsed two or three times in the Actes of the Apostles where the sectes of the Scribes and Pharisies be called Heresies and though S. Paul himselfe speaking out of the opinion of the Iewes most willingly vndergoeth the imputation where Christian Religion was branded with the termes of Sect or Heresy yet was not the word taken in such a heynous signification here in these places as in the other places of the Apostles before mentioned for that of no kind of sin or sinner did they euer pronounce so grieuous a sentence as namely that he was to be fled from as subuerted and damned by his owne iudgment that they brought in daÌ„nable Heresies that they brought vpon themselues swift damnation and that their damnation slept not which they feared not to pronounce nay they bouldly pronounced of an hereticall man they bring vpon themselues swift damnation Here is nothing but damnation and all to giue vs a terrible admonition to beware them and auoid them And thus much I thought good to say of this dreadfull name for stirring vp my former brethren of the Ministry to beware therof but much more to decline the cause and occasion of the same 13. As for the word Catholick it came from heauen and was first reuealed from the holy Ghost by the mouth of all the Apostles in their common Creed For being assembled togeather to compose a perfect platforme of true and sauing-beliefe and to keepe out Heresy whilest they dispersed themselues abroad to sow the sacred seed of EuaÌ„gelicall verity they being at this time and for this purpose assembled and their tongues being the pennes of a ready writer when they came vnto that article which concerned the Church they by the instinct of the neuer-erring spirit laid downe the forme thus Credo in Spiritum Sanctum SanctaÌ„ Ecclesiam Catholicam I beleeue in the holy Ghost the holy Catholicke Church where they did not thinke it sufficieÌ„t to say they belieued the holy ChristiaÌ„ Church but they thought the word Catholicke to be more eminent significant and effectuall for the purpose Neither could this be done without the singuler care prouideÌ„ce wisdome of that all-seing spirit that vndoubtedly inspired theÌ„ guided theÌ„ For as Tertull. obserueth that S. Paul forseeing that heresies would afterwardes spring vp in the Church as the weedes vsually do amongst the purest and rankest corne foretold and forewarned them to come yea pointeth out as it were with the finger to some heresies particulerly euen so the Apostles foreseeing that all heresies were to shroud themselues vnder the names of Christian Churches Assemblies and Congregations they thought it most conuenient for preseruation of vnity and verity to set this remarkable stamp of Catholick vpon the Church for the more manifest conuincing and detecting of all heresy which badge or cognisance being once set vpon the sleeue of the Church impossible it was that any Hereticke that euer was is or hereafter shall be can euer fasten vpon this title And since it is more then apparant that the genuine description of Catholicke requireth more particulers and more easie to be discouered then doth the name of Christian in generall most pertinent if not necessary is the imposition of this name vpon Christes Church for the better excluding and keeping forth of all hereticall and particuler Sectaries whatsoeuer 14. From these two fountaines then of sacred Scripture and common Creed originally flowed the knowledge and vse of these two wordes of Catholick and Heretick both of them came from heauen both were particulerly inspired by the holy Ghost breathed into the Church for her better preseruation as hath beene formerly noted the very consideration wherof
great doubt that then arose in the Church to wit whether the obseruation of the ould law of Moyses should be ioyned necessary with the new law of Christ and because they would leaue a patterne for all succeeding ages to follow they determined the matter and thēselues I meane the Apostles and Prelates of that first age decided the doubt by those high wordes of authority taken from the foresaid commission of our Sauiour Visum est spiritui Sāto Nobis it seemeth good vnto the holy Ghost and vs for the Church and the true spirit of the holy Ghost go inseparably togeather in regard of Christ his promise made vnto the Church so that the holy Ghost euer keepeth his residence in her guideth her gouerneth her directeth her and sitteth as President in all her consultations and assēblyes and therefore this vmpiring and determining forme of speach hath euer since beene vsed in the lawfull succession of the said visible Church vntill our daies will be frequented still especially in generall Councels euen vnto the worlds end to put a firme period and full conclusion vnto all controuersies that come in question And the reason is for that the same authority and assistance of the holy Ghost which that first Church had for directing of mens soules vnto their saluation the very self same and none other hath the visible Catholicke Church of our age and hath had in all ages and shall haue in all to come Verum enim non variat It is an ancient prescription and no more ancient then true Gods giftes and graces conferred vpon his Church are without repētance the holy Ghost is euer one and the selfe same spirit of truth in Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other succeding Pastours and Doctors and Christ his promise was not for one age only he shed not his pretious bloud for those of his age alone but for all all were alike neere vnto him all were alike deare vnto him he tooke our nature in generall to saue mankind in generall and therfore the care he had for one age of the Church the same he had for all succeeding ages of the same as well for the last as for the first and this care of his continueth so long as the sunne and the moone endureth 60. This remittance then and reference vnto the Authority of the Church originally proceeded from the Apostles themselues was continually perpetuated by all succeeding ages of the Catholicke Church and therfore as S. Paul in a controuersy of lesser importance writing to the Corinthians about women being veyled in the Church saith to shut vp the dore to all further cōtention that If any man will seeme to be contentious we haue no such custome nor yet the Church of God repressing the contentious man as you see with the Authority and Custome of the Church so did all subsequent Fathers of the orthodox Church whether it were in the priuat writings or in the worlds grand Parlament in Generall Councells in all their conflicts with Hereticks they euer vsed to repell and represse them by one and the selfe same meanes and that was with the authority of the knowne Catholicke Church And looke what sentence they pronounced against thē for their contumacy see what censure they inflicted vpon them for their heresy it remayned good against them and irreuocable it was ratyfied as the law of the Medes and Persians which could not be altered their authority was grounded immediatly vpon those wordes of Verity VVhat soeuer you bynd on earth shall be bound in heauen and the Tribunall of heauen confirmed the authority of the Church vpon earth nay standeth expecting what is done by it vpon earth such is the mysticall dependency betwixt the one and the other such is the mutuall correspondency betwixt the head and his members Christ and his Church Dare then any man hereafter oppose his priuate spirit against the authority of this Church Or will he impudently presume to preferre his owne conceipt and opinion before her publicke tradition 61. Ancient S. Irenaeus who was in manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum for he liued in the very next age after them writing against the heresies of his dayes and hauing first declared how the primitiue Church was visibly planted by Christ and his Apostles and how it was continued to his time doth then pourtraict out vnto vs discourse at large of the authority sufficiency treasury tradition and absolute perfection of this Church for the repelling of all heresy and deliuering of all truth his wordes are these Tantae igitur ostensiones cùm haec sint c. Wheras these thinges which I haue said are so great demonstrations of the truth we must not yet seeke the truth from others which is easely taken from the Church wheras the Apostles did most fully lay vp in her all thinges belonging to the truth as in a certaine rich treasure-house so as euery man that will may take from thence the liquor or sustenance of life for that is the intrance vnto life euerlasting to belieue the Church all others that flie this way are theeues and murtherers and therfore we must auoid them that are such but with great diligence we must affect those things that are of the Church and from her take the tradition of truth And truly if our contention were but about some small question in Religion yet ought not we to haue recourse vnto the most ancient Churches wherin the Apostles had once bene conuersant and so take from them that which is certaine and cleere for deciding of the question And what if the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all had it not bene needfull notwithstanding to follow the order of tradition which they haue left vnto vs to whome they to wit the Apostles had committed those Churches 62. Thus farre S. Irenaeus which I haue of purpose chosen to cite more at large for that it is sufficient alone to disclose his iudgement and the Iudgment of that first age next after the Apostles how farre the authority of the visible vniuersall Church then stretched and was esteemed for especially for clearing soluing and deciding of all doubtes that possibly could arise in religion And the reason there rendred by the same Father is this She is the store-house wherein Christs merits and the Churches treasure is laid vp She is the way of life whereby we may come to eternall life and escape euerlasting death that all are theeues yea murtherers of soules that doe impugne her or seeke other wayes of tryall then her and her tradition from hand to hand That this tradition is sufficient though there were no Scripture That from her and her alone the truth is to be taken and not els where That by her and her authority alone all doubts and questions are to be so ued and decided Can any thing be spoken more effectuall then this Or is there any more playne easy euident
against thē saying The Brownists do confidently reproach vs that our Church is no Church our Sacraments no Sacraments our Prince and people Infidells as not being baptized at all our Christiā Congregations prophane multitudes c. Thus write they animated as say these Answerers by the Millenary Puritan Petitioners wherby it may be probably presumed that they also to wit the said thousand Petitioners in most poynts at least are of the same opinion 84. These thinges being so as no man of modesty can deny my demaund is how can these men differing in so mayne a poynt be of the same Church Or how can any man of the meanest vnderstanding so he haue any capacity at all imagine how these and the Protestants can be saued togeather Nay truly the booke intituled The picture of a Puritan licenced to come forth by authority Anno 1605. contayning a comparison of the opinions of the Anabaptists in Germany with those of the Puritans in England in Dialogue wise betweene an English man and a German this booke I say doth pregnantly proue that the Protestants do hold the Puritans not only for Schismatickes and Sectaries but for Heretickes also as the Anabaptists are yea the Author holdeth them farre worse then the Anabaptists Your Ana baptists saith he come not neere to our Puritans in pride and contempt c. And then he proceedeth in comparing and paralleling them as well in their opinions and vse of Sacraments as in many other points of Religion with the said Anabaptists most damned heretickes as all English Protestants themselues generally acknowledge them to be yea this Author called O. O. Emanuel aggrauates the point so much against them that he compareth them with Iewes and other such like Infidells And euery where throughout his whole discourse detecteth and censureth them for obstinate and wicked Sectaries And finally to wast no more labour in a matter so cleare I find them ipso sacto excommunicated by many Constitutions Canons Ecclesiasticall of the Bishops and Protestant Church of England as namely for impugning their Church as also the Rites and Cerimonies established in the said Church for denying the authority of their Archbishops Bishops their consecrating and ordering of the inferiour Clergy for denying of Deanes Collegiate Churches for being Authours of Schisme and separating themselues as Schismatickes for maynteyning of Constitutions made in Conuenticles and the like 75. And to conclude euery where almost throughout the same Constitutions they are sharpely censured for Sectaries and Schismaticks which censure proceeding from the Protestant Church with so full a stroke of authority must of necessity in their owne iudgement depriue the others of all meanes of saluation in that Church they standing out with pertinacy against the same as they doe consequently this doome must needes fall vpon one of their heades that the Protestants and they can in no case be saued togeather The fifth Consideration With the Conclusion of this whole Chapter to his Maiesty NOW therefore to returne with all humble obedience loyalty vnto your Matie conteyning my selfe within all due and iust boundes of duty fidelity obseruance obedience subiection and submission which eyther the law of God of Nature of Nations Reason Religion or of my owne natiue Countrie can require of a subiect towards his Dread Soueraigne I do euen from my innermost and hartiest affections implore this one thing of your sayd Excellency and must euer persist to beg it at your Highnes handes to wit that after these foresaid premised Considerations to the Reader your owne Princely Person would deigne to condescend to enter into some serious Consideration and mature deliberation and that with some earnest attention within the secret closet of your owne most wise iudicious and vnderstanding hart what is and may be the great consequence of all this that hath beene hither so generally discoursed of in the mayne body of the whole as also to weigh ponder the weight and importance of ech particuler treated and inferred in their seuerall passages 87. And first may it please your Highnes to lay togeather and compare the seuerall partes and distinct pertyes of different Professions in Religion all dissenting frō the English Protestant Church and doctrine therein established as before hath beene sufficiently proued The instances we bring for a plenary and particuler confirmation are these As first the ROMAN Catholickes which possesse the greatest part of Europe Secondly the Lutherans professing throughout Saxony Denmarke Suecia and some other States in Germany Thirdly the Sacramentaries Zuinglians and rigid Caluinists tearmed by vs for their moteferuēt supposed zeale Puritans and these be dispersed throughout Suitzerland Sauoy Germany Hungary France Holland Scotland and some parts of England All these I say conioined togeather and compared only with the English Parliament Protestants do make often partes of Christendome nyne at the least which proportion or rather disproportion as indeed it is especially in Religion when I seriously consider and weigh it in the euen and impartiall ballance of an indifferent iudgement I can in all duty do no lesse but most humblie propose vnto the Christiā Prudency and Religious Piety of your Matie to consider of what importance this is in regard of life euerlasting that nine partes of ten should hould the English Protestant religion for damnable heresy by which your Matie expecteth to receaue an eternall neuersading crowne of glory awarded by Almighty God the most righteous iudge of all the world 88. Yf in a sumptuous and Royall banquet prepared of purpose to intertaine the person of a King or potent Monarch there were neuer so many pleasing and alluring dishes neuer such great store of delicate viandes fetched from the sea or prouided by land neuer so great appetite in the Princely party inuited if often learned Phisitions that were then present attending vpon the person of this Prince to consult and prouide for his bodily health and welfare nyne of them should confidently auouch vpon their learning and iudgement nay life it selfe that all those daynties and pleasing dishes were infected with the drugges of some mortall and deadly-killing poyson some one dish only excepted which they could not also well discouer I thinke it would make the party inuited to looke about him to stay himselfe and examine well the matter before he would desperately aduenture to please his palate Or if in a great suite of law concerning the interest to a Princely inheritance pretēded by the plaintife it should be eyther by Parliament or vnder the great Seale or by some other Statute enacted yea and without faile executed that if the plaintife fayled in his suite being either dryuen to non-suite or ouercome in his suite that then he should vndergoe extreme misery be exposed to infinite calamities most certaynely incurre euerlasting bondage and slauery though some one lawyer of ten that were of his counsaile should animate and giue him all the encouragement that possibly he
children and after the said law was written also euery man and woman was not remitted promiscuously hand ouer head to the reading of those bookes but he was sent to take his instruction and institution from the ordinary Superiours Doctors Gouernors of that Church and these were to expound the law vnto him For which direction and tradition we find this warrant and commaunding yea prescribing authority Aske thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy elders and they will declare vnto thee Againe The lipes of the Priest preserue knowledge And yet in a third place I know that Abraham will demaund and teach his sonnes and househould that they walke in my wayes c. 17. And now to come from the law to the Ghospell from Moyses vnto Christ and so to proceed orderly with the history of the Church as God is no changling but euer like himselfe euen so the beginning proceeding establishing of the new Christian faith and Church was not much vnlike if not altogeather resembling the former For first this Church was planted by our Sauiour at Hierusalem and speedily by the industrious ministery of the holy Apostles assisted by the instinct of the holy Ghost spread ouer the face of the earth and yet neyther the Church nor the Apostles the principall pillars of the Church had as at this time any written instruction or methodicall institution deliuered vnto them concerning their teaching preaching or beleeuing except only the articles of the Creed deliuered by tradition in the Church as will appeare in the subsequent Considerations Secondly the institution that they had they receyued it by instruction from our Sauiour his mouth and from the immediate instinct suggestion and inspiration of the holy Ghost who was promised by Christ himselfe who could not lie nor deceaue to assist the Church continually vnto the worldes end and by this institution and inspiration alone they taught and conuerted both Iewes and Gentils instituted Churches establishing lawes and orders of life by word of mouth and tradition only from hand to hand before any thing of the new testament was committed to writing And this was the condition of the Church for some yeares and that in the infancy and purity of Christian Religion as the Protestant must perforce confesse Thirdly when the Wisdome of heauen thought it expedient that somthing should be written the first thing cōmitted vnto writing in the new Testamēt was the Ghospell of S. Matthew and this was collected and digested in that very order as it is now presented to the Church and that some eight yeares after the ascension of our Sauiour then the Ghospell of S. Marke some fiue yeares after that then that of S. Luke written twelue yeares after the former wherin diuers thinges omitted in the other Ghospell of are recorded And last of all was written the Ghospell of S. Iohn conteyning in it many great and important matters which are not found in any of the rest and this was not written of 66. yeares after the first visible Christian Church was planted and established by the comming of the holy Ghost 18. And now as all the rest were written vpon particuler occasions so especially was this famous Ghospell of S. Iohn which is the very key opening the dore vnto the vnderstanding of all the rest and particulerly vpon the occasion of Ebion and Cerinthus their heresy which impugned the Diuinity of the Sonne of God Whereupon I do inferre that for that which concerneth the new Testament the Church was for diuers yeares without any Scriptures at all and for 66. yeares which is the age of a man the points related by S. Iohn more then were vttered in the other Ghospells which are many and most important were receiued and belieued in the Church by tradition onely And now for Conclusion of all I would demaund but one thing of the Protestants that make such shew of appealing vnto Scriptures and the Primitiue Apostolicall Church this was demāded aboue 1400. yeares agoe by S. Irenaus before cyted who liued in the very next age after the Apostles vpon the very like occasion Sineque Apostoli Scripturas reliquissent nobis c. If the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all yet ought not we to follow that order of tradition which they left to those to whom they committed their Churches So that holy Bishop and Martyr especially ought we not to follow that order of tradition since the true worship of God and the sauing doctrine of the Ghospell of Christ cōtinued for 2000. yeares in the time of the law and for many other yeares in the dayes of the Ghospell and that in the brest of the Church to be deliuered by tradition only without the help of any word written 19. Wherby we cannot but discerne and must acknowledge that Scriptures or the written word of God were not so absolute necessary for the reuealing of God his will vnto man kind and the continuing of man in that sauing knowledge of him but that his Diuine Maiesty might haue propagated and preserued his doctrine and man in the truth by tradition only of word of mouth without any Scriptures at all if it had so pleased him as he did for many ages and generations togeather both before the first great diluge by water in the dayes of our first Patriarkes vntill Abrabā his time whome he chose for the head of his people as also afterwardes when he directed the same people by like tradition as well in Egipt where they remayned in most cruell bondage for 400. yeares as else where before Moyses wrote his forenamed bookes And the like he might haue done with Christiās to the worlds great generall consummation last inundation by a flood of fire according to S. Irenaeus his sentence if he had listed as hauing instituted a more orderly exact and authorized Church yea and hauing indued it with greater priuiledges according to the perfection of the new law aboue the old then he had done vnto the former of the Iewes Whereupon it must needes follow by force of necessary consequence that the tradition of this Church and pure authority therof both in propounding Scriptures vnto vs and discerning the same which are truly Scriptures and which are not as also for deliuering vnto vs the true sense and meaning therof in their interpretation and exposition is much more to be respected by vs then was that of the Iewes Forasmuch as Christ our Sauiour promised the continuall assistance of his spirit vnto this Church and that in such measure as that it should alone be able to withstand all the infernall power of Sathan and the gates of hell idest the very entrance of all kynd of errour or herely into it whatsoeuer 20. These then that neuer so solemnely and neuer so confidently professe that they for their partes do belieue and follow the Scriptures without due reference or respect to the Church forsomuch as all Sectaries and Heretikcs that
out of the new All these I say are receiued by those of the Roman Religion for Canonicall Scriptures in the sense before defined out of S. Augustine that is to say for holy and diuine bookes written by the finger of Almighty God by the ministery of those who were Pennes of a ready writer and consequently these of the second ranke were of no lesse authority nor infallible verity then those of the first order for that in things immediatly and a like proceeding from God his spirit there can not be lesse or more truth but all are of equall credit and so equally to be receaued honoured esteemed and belieued And thus much for the Catholickes who for a infallible ground and assured direction in this matter follow not any priuate erring spirit but the neuer-deceiuing authority of the Church which Church and spouse of Christ being guided by the spirit of God according to the promise of Christ her bridegrome hath from all ancient time in former ages in her Councells Synodes and Ecclesiasticall Decrees notified declared determined and established the authority of these foresaid bookes of the second rew for infallible and Canonicall that is to say declared them to be such and euer haue bene such to wit of most certaine and infallible truth though sometimes and amongst some men there haue bene doubt thereof And this is the manner of the Church to declare what is Scripture but not to make it 30. But as for the Protestants I find such diuersity and contrariety such opposition and contradiction among them that they seeme vnto me as mē in tangled shall I say nay perplexed and distracted not knowing what to doe or whither to fly or which way to turne them in this great busines of discerning and admitting Scriptures And surely the reason of all this misery ariseth from themselues alone Perditio tua ex te it was spoken of Israells transgression but neuer more truly verified thē of hereticall innouation for that these miserable deceiued and deceiuing soules leauing the high rode of the Churches prescription can neuer possibly attaine vnto any infallible direction one following one thing and another another and that in this maine point of the Scriptures importance Quot capita tot sententia euery man will be a chooser euery one will shew himselfe an Hereticke whence it commeth to passe that Gods word is wretchedly abused blasphemed reiected by some rent and torne in peeces by others and that which on God his part was ordained and prepared for them to be a sauour of life vnto life becommeth by their misusage of it a sauour of death vnto death and to speake all in a word through the fault of their owne peruerse will concurring and God his most righteous iudgment following them hard at the heeles it commeth to passe that that word which was giuen as a pillar of fire to direct and lighten them into all verity is turned into a pillar of smoke so darkening and infatuating their vnderstanding that they rush headlong into all kind of heresie 31. This being well peceiued by his Maiesty of England according to that notable apprehension of his Noble Nature he as it were out of a pious zealous and Religious disposition though wrongly missed by some time-seruing and Statizing Theologue who is somewhat to neere vnto his Royall Person writeth as in part before you haue heard concerning the Scriptures and it is in effect as followeth As for the Scriptures no man doubteth I will belieue them But euen for the Apocrypha I hould them in the same accompt that the Ancients did they are still printed and bound with our Bibles and publikely read in our Churches I reuerence them as writings of holy and good men but since they are not found in the Canon we accompt them to be secundae lectionis or ordinis which is Bellarmines owne distinction and therefore not sufficient wherupon alone to ground any article of faith except it be confirmed by some other place of Canonicall Scripture Thus writeth his Maiesty out of a good meaning no doubt and therefore great pitty it is that so Vertuous and Religious a Hart should erre or conceipt amisse But who shall determine whether these Scriptures here called Apocrypha which are those of the second order before mentioned be Canonicall Scriptures or not Herelyeth the substance of the questiō His Matie heere vpon the suggestion of his Domesticall Ministers of England saith no but the ancient Church of Christendome saith yea as doth also the present and her iudgement being in this case aboue all earthly authority is to strike the stroke betwixt God and man Let the word of my Soueraigne in all otherthings stand as the strong moūtaine that may not be remoued and as the law of the Medes and Persians which could neuer be altered only let not my lord the King be displeased with his seruant and subiect in this if his word may not stand but must of necessity fall to the ground as being countermaunded by the word of God that cannot nor will not be disauthorized by the word of any mortall man 32. It was suggested to his Matie but sinister was the information that Cardinall Bellarmine in his first booke de Verbo Dei cap. 4. held the former distinction of secundae lectionis or ordinis and that in his Maiesties sense but it is nothing so in the sense that here is set downe by his Maiesty to wit that this second order of bookes are of lesse authority then the first For albeit Bellarmine doth as before hath bene said deuide all the bookes that are in the Bible into three ranks or orders first into such as were neuer called in question by any Catholicke men Secondly into such as notwithstāding sometimes haue byn doubted of by some yet were afterwards admitted by the whole vniuersall Church And thirdly and lastly into Apocrypha yet doth he not either call those bookes of the second order Apocrypha or secundae lectionis as here is set downe nor yet secundi ordinis in his Maiesties sense as though they were lesse to be belieued and of lesse authority then those of the first ranke but rather he auerreth the quite contrary that they are all of one and the selfe same authority And therfore whosoeuer he was that suggested this place of Bellarmine vnto his Matie he dealt not well and sincerly therin with his Prince and he is bound by the law of conscience and by the law of a subiect towards his Soueraigne to acknowledge his errour were it of malice or of ignorance committed and humbly prostrate vpon his knees to craue pardon for this abusing of his Lord and euer after to beware how he presume to whisper any such vntruth palpable and notorious falshood into the eares of his dread Lord and King 33. But now forasmuch as this point of denying the infallible authority and irrefragable credit of any the least booke part or parcell of
Scripture is so heynous and temerarious a sinne as before we haue touched yea and that committed against the Blessed spirit that breathed them all and streamed these pure waters of life from one and the same liuing and life-giuing fountaine Let vs in the name of God in timore tremore euen with feare and trembling since the horror of the sinne committed requireth this at our hands examine a little in what a dangerous nay damnable state the Protestants of our dayes do stand in about their disauthorizing of Scriptures not in blotting out one booke alone but in wiping out many togeather from the number of the sincere Canon and let vs further consider in what a gaze and maze they stand being vncertaine of their ground also what they ought to belieue hould or determine after they haue lost the sure and stable-staying anchor of the Churches authority in this behalfe 34. As for example the Catholickes do belieue all those bookes before mentioned which are secundi ordinis in Bellarmine both the ould and new Testament to be Canonicall Scriptures of infallible truth and the reason is drawne from the Church for that she in her ancieÌ„t CouÌ„cells hath admitted the same for such at least wise since the 47. Canon of the third Councell of Carthage was enacted wherin S. Augustine himselfe was present and subscribed to the said Canon which Canon auerreth them to be bookes of true Canonicall Scriptures amongst which for example goeth the Epistle to the Hebrewes and of this my purpose is at this present to make some particuler Consideration for that the time within whose limyts I am straited will not easily permit me to treat of all 35. This Epistle then is belieued of the Catholicks to be a true part of Canonicall Scripture and written by S. Paul as well as the rest for that it was so receaued by the Church in old time as namely in the Councell of Laodicea the 59. Canon And after that againe in the third Councell of Carthage before mentioned and cyted in diuers other Councells and namely in the first Nicene whose authority his Matie of England offereth to stand vnto in the first Ephesine and of that of Chalcedon in all the grand Parlaments of the worlds Generall Councells it was receaued and acknowledged as the genuine Epistle of S. Paul But now in these our vnhappy times matters be raked into Controuersies againe and that after the whole Church hath in diuers Synods established the thing and euery sort of Sectaries will needes adhere to their owne brayn-sicke fancyes and will preferre their owne priuate opinion before the publicke determination and resolution of the Church Amongst all others as the Captaine and ringleader of the rest vpstarts Martin Luther but it was after he had broken vow and cloyster and married a Nunne taketh vpon him to censure the matter in his Prologue to that Epistle reuersing as erroneous the graue and infallible iudgement of so many Generall Councells directed by the spirit of God his wordes be these This Epistle saith Luther was neither written by S. Paul nor by any other Apostle and it conteineth in it some thinges contrary to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine This was Luthers heady and giddy censure of this admirable parcell of holy Writ Will any man hereafter so desperately cast away himselfe in crediting him who thus discrediteth Gods word 36. With Luther in this poynt conspire all the learned Lutherans about the disauthorizing of this holy Writ and namely Ioannes Brentius in his Confession of Wittemberg cap. de sacra Scriptura and the foure Magdeburgian good fellowes in their first loud-lying Century the 2. booke the fourth Chapter Col. 55. and that audacious and impudent Examyner and Censurer of all the learning and learned men of the whole Christian world I meane Martinus Kemniâ—ius in his examen of the 4. Session of that famous Councell of Trent And vpon this these men aduenture all their soules VVill any man suffer himselfe any longer to be deceaued by such pure reformers nay rather impure impostors But Iohn Caluin the next succeeding reformer of these Reformers being to beginne a new fect of his owne head he thought it most conuenient to oppose himselfe against the Lutherans in this point and therefore in his first Institutions printed in the yeare of our Lord 1554. cap. 8. § 216. he proueth that the Lutherans do erre in this poynt in houlding it not to be an Apostolicall Epistle yet he will not affirme that it was written by S. Paul but rather perhaps by Bannaby or Luke as may appeare in the same Institutions Chap. 10. § 83. and Chap 16. § 25. Vpon which scruple raysed by M. Caluin the Caluinian Ministers at a certaine Conuenticle of theirs held at Poysy in France in the yeare 1562. do in the third article of their Confession set downe this Epistle to the Hebrewes to be diuine Scripture but yet incerti authoris they leaue the authour of it to be doubtfull And this is a subtill trick peculiar to Caluin his inuention to wit to differ from other Protestants and yet not fully to agree with the Catholickes but to haue something singuler to himselfe as you see in this controuersy and it might be proued in many other 37. And here now I would demaund vpon what warrant in the world doth Iohn Caluin and his Sectaries contradict and oppose themselues against Luther and his followers in this point Certaine it is he agreeth not with the Catholickes at aâ—l and it seemeth then nay it is more then certaine he followeth a seuerall way and straine by himselfe and hath no ground or guide therin but his owne will iudgement choice and election 38. The like dispute I might propose about other bookes or partes of Scriptures and namely concerning the Epistle of S. Iames and the Apocalyps the former wherof is reiected both by Luther and all the forenamed Lutheran writers Brentius Kemnitius and the Magdeburgians all these auouch it to be no Scripture but yet it is asserted and asscuered by Caluin and the Caluinists for genuine and vndoubted Scripture The second which is that mysticall booke of the Reuelation composed by that high-soaring and Egale-winged Iohn S. Iohn syrnamed the Deuine this booke though it be in like manner discredited and disauthorized from Canon by Luther and most of his followers as namely by Brentius Kemnitius in the places before alleaged yet is the same booke eagerly defended against them by Caluin and his followers and good reason haue they in their iudgment for it forasmuch as thence they take vpon them to demonstrate the Pope to be Antichrist and the VVhore of Babylon in regard of the seauen hilled Citty I know not vpon what imaginations besides And this Consideration may be presumed to haue beene an especiall motiue vnto those chiefe Lutherans the Magdeburgians causing them to forsake both their Father Luther and their Lutheran brethren in this cause and to
concurre and conioyne themselues with Caluin and the Caluinists in defence of the Apocalyps 39. And yet I do not perceiue how his Maiesties assertion here about these bookes doth not rather agree with the Lutherans then with the Caluinistes for so much as he holdeth all those bookes for Apocrypha no Canonicall Scripture which are named by Bellarmine to be secundiordinis in which second order as before hath beene declared the Cardinall comprehendeth also these Epistles to wit the Epistles to the Hebrewes that of S. Iames and the Apocalyps and consequently it is necessarily deduced and inferred vpon his Maiestyes wordes and discourse that he houldeth these for no Canonicall Scriptures And this is contrary vnto Caluin and vnto the Church of England and vnto his Maiesty himselfe for he auoucheth them to be Scriptures and so vpon my knowledge doth the present Church of England And lastly his Maiesties so long standing vpon the Apocalyps in this his Premonition doth well shew that he esteemeth it for Scripture and this contradiction also must light vpon him who against knowledge and conscience if he hath eyther wrongfully suggested the place of Bellarmine vnto his Matie 40. But my maine Conclusion of all is this that nothing can be certaine as here it is sufficiently prooued when a man once departeth from the Authority of the Church for this is a certaine rule vnto all such a rule as is authorized by God himselfe for then euery man may make and vnmake Scripture at their pleasure vpon their owne perill But sure I am that he can neyther giue nor take away diuine authority from the Scriptures And if you say that neyther the Church can do this I demaund first who art thou that comparest thy self with the whole Church I graunt it to be true but yet let me tell thee this withall that though the Church cannot giue diuine authority to any writing which from the beginning was not truely Scripture nor take away the same from any part of that which from the very beginning was Scripture yet may the Church declare what bookes were written by Propheticall or Apostolicall men as before hath bene said and consequently by the finger of the holy Ghost and so were Canonicall Scriptures and of infallible truth and this might the Church know partly by tradition others not knowing the same might without suspition of heresy doubt of their authority before the said declaration of the Church and partly also by the euer guiding assistance of the holy Ghost in her Synodes when any such weighty matters for direction of the whole Church were treated in which Councells the said Church after due inquisition made and inuocation of the holy Ghost as her common custome is might no lesse conclude and bind all with Visum est Spiritui Sancto Nobis then did they of the first Councell in the Actes of the Apostles which no priuate man hath authority to do though Luther and Caluin presumed to determine the same The fourth Consideration THE briefe summe of all hitherto treated of in this second Chapter concerning the Scriptures is in effect thus much first euery belieuing appealing vnto Scriptures is not sufficient to proue a man a Christian Catholicke for that ech Sectary doth offer this Secondly that tradition without Scriptures might haue continued as sufficient for instruction if God had so pleased according to that of S. Irenaeus before cited and this is proued for that both the Church vnder the law and vnder the Ghospell were instituted ordayned by tradition without Scriptures as appeareth by the very time of the writing of the Scriptures both of the old and new TestameÌ„t after that the Church was first planted Thirdly the written Scriptures are distinguished discerned what is Scripture and what not what Canonicall and what Apocrypha and that by tradition and this is all about the letter of the Scripture only There resteth yet the greatest point of all and of most importance behind and this is how true Scriptures are to be rightly sensed and interpreted For if that of Tertullian be true in the 17. Chapter of his Prescriptions Tantùm veritati obstrepit adulter sensus quantùm corruptor stylus A false glosse marreth the truth as much as a naughty text Or that of S. Hierome Nec putemus in verbis Scripturarum esse Euangelium sedin sensu non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum foliis sed in radice rationis Neither let vs thinke that the Ghospell resteth in the wordes of the Scriptures not in the sense of the Scriptures not in the rind or barky letter of the wordes but in the marrow of the meaning not in the wordy leaues but in the root of reason by a right vnderstanding thereof Or that of S. Augustine to the same effect Si in Scripturis fanctis profunda sunt mysteria quae ad hoc absconduntur ne vilescant ad hoc quaeruntur vt exerceant ad hoc aperiuntur vt pasâ—ant if there be profound mysteries in holy writ which are therefore hid that they become not vile therefore sought after that men may be exercised and set on worke therefore disclosed that they may feed Lastly Si mare sit diuina scriptura habens in se sensus prosundos altitudinem Propheticorum aenigmatum as S. Ambrose auerreth If diuine Scripture be a sea contayning in it bottomles depth of profound senses that is the depth of propheticall riddles questions and predictions c. Si machera c. as the same author hath it If it be a sword with a sharpe and cutting edge oh then how warily ought we to walke in this way of sensing Scriptures Quae nihil aliud est nisi Epistola quaedam omnipotentis Dei ad creaturam suam as S. Gregory speaketh which is nothing else but a certaine Epistle of the omnipotent God vnto his owne creature 42. If a subiect should eyther maliciously or negligently misinterprete the letter of his Prince and that in a matter of some great moment should he escape seuere punishment And shall the treacherous hereticke who wilfully and maliciously vpon his owne peruerse choice depraueth corrupteth and misinterpreteth the Scriptures the letter Epistle and proper hand-writing of his God escape deserued condemnation Grande periculum est in Ecclesia loqui ne fortè interpretatione peruersa de Euangelio Christi hominis fiat Euangelium aut quod peius est Diaboli So S. Hierome It is no small hazard to speake in the Church least happily the Ghospell of Christ become the Ghospell of man or that which is worse the Ghospell of the Diuell and all by a peruerse and naughty interpretation Is the Scripture a bottomlesse sea and is there no daunger of drowning nay damning in hell if men be to busy with it to abuse it Is the Scripture a sword as S. Ambrose resembleth it or a two-edged sword for so S.
Creedes for do not they both expound and vnfould that high and obstruse mystery of the Godhead of Christ his identity and equality of substance power and glory with God his Father witnesse those wordes added and vsed in the Councell of Nice about 310. yeares after Christ Deum de Deo Lumen de Lumine Deum verum de Deo vero genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being consubstantiall to the Father c. Witnesse S. Athanasius his Creed that was made by him in Rome for Confession of his fayth some 15. yeares after that againe wherein there is found that exact manner of speach distinguishing the persons of the Blessed Trinity Qualis Pater talis Filius talis Spiritus Sanctus Such as the Father is such is the Sonne and such is the holy Ghost and then he setteth downe more particulerly the distinctiue appellations and peculiar proprieties belonging vnto euery person as the Father vnbegotten the Sonne begotten of the Father the holy Ghost proceeding asmuch as if in plaine tearmes he had said the Father distinguished with this personall propriety of begetting a Sonne is a Father and no Sonne the Sonne distinguished with his personall propriety of being begotten is a Sonne and not a Father the holy Ghost distinguished by his personall propriety of proceeding is an holy Ghost neyther Father nor Sonne 14. By all which we see the exceeding great authority of the Church in determining these different manners of speach in disclosing this ineffable and inutterable mystery of the Trinity which are not found at all totidem verbis in the Scriptures and therefore were denied by the Scripturian Heretickes for as learned Hosius noteth and it is the obseruation of S. Ambrose against one only article of our Sauiours consubstantiality with his Father they alleaged 50. places of Scripture I meane the Arians who did beare great sway and insinuated themselues into the fauour of the Emperors for the better supporting of their damnable heresies as the Protestants do creepe into the fauour of our King at this day for the vphoulding of their errors and therefore great pitty it was that the Protestants and Arians had not liued in one age togeather that they might haue ioyned hands ech one with another who do so neare resemble ech one the other in their behauiour and manner of proceeding 15. VVell then we see that the former mysteries of the Diety and Trinity could be determined by no other power and authority vpon earth then by that supreme power of the Church for that expresse warrant of Scripture there was none in their pretence for many of these wordes that are now vsed and frequented by the Church in the explication of these Creedes were not then in vse but inuented and applied afterwads by the Church according to the present necessity And yet notwithstanding haue they beene so acknowledged and receaued euer since by all Christendome that the authority of the Church in that behalfe determining and expounding hath stood inuiolable and such as haue not admitted the same haue euer beene reputed and accompted for wicked and damned Heretickes And this is to be noted with attention as before I haue partly touched in generall that albeit the Councell of Nice representing the whole Christiā Church of that age did not nor could not make any new article of beliefe that was not true before but only did more fully and plainely explane and declare such things as the impudency and importunity of Heretickes called into doubt and question so did not the said Councell explayne all that belonged to the diuine persons for they left at Credo in Spiritum sanctum I belieue in the holy Ghost and there brake of not vnfoulding any thing particulerly touching the procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne about which there was afterwards so great strife and contention and is to this day with the later obstinate Greekes affirming the same Person to proceed only from the Father not from the Sonne but left that by Gods prouidence to be expounded afterwardes by other Councells when that poynt should be called into question and so it was So that it is more then euident vnto euery one that will not wilfully shut his eyes against the cleare sunne shine of truth that there is left continuall power in the Church to explayne and determine with authority and that irrefragable and vnresistable any doubt neuer so weighty about the Persons of the Trinity or any other article of beliefe or any other high point of diuine mystery that shall arise among Christians and that vnto the worlds last ending euery one vnder paine of dānable obedience against Christs spouse and the holy spirit the director thereof is bound to submit and captiuate his iudgment and vnderstanding thereto and not to stand in contention against the same And thus much of these three Creedes in generall how they are to be reuerenced now let vs descend vnto the seuerall articles and positions therof in particuler The second Consideration NOvv succeedeth our second Consideration about the examining of certaine particulers of these three Creedes how they are receiued and belieued You haue heard before how the Ministers of the Church of England do subscribe vnto the same at their Ordination Now let vs examine whether this English Cleargy notwithstanding all their subscription thereunto do indeed truly belieue them and expound them in the selfe same sense interpretation and meaning as the Generall Councells and ancient Fathers that collected them meant them as they do perswade his Matie they do A man would think that so solemne an Oath taken before an Ecclesiasticall Iudge at the Tribunall of the Church and that for preseruation of Religion and conseruaaion of the integrity of ancient faith laid downe in ancient Creedes and generall Councells should religiously bynd before God and men people of their quality and condition but behold heresy that neither feareth God nor reuetenceth man obserueth no band at all but draweth euery thing to euery mans particuler iudgment and censure and therefore it doth little auaile the ministers of the Church of England to reuerence and receaue the wordes of the Creed whilst they reiect the Churches sense and true meaning of the same to sweare vnto them in wordes by subscription at their Ordinatiō but to forsweare them in deedes by a peruerse and sinister interpretation and exposition And this God willing shal be made good against them in the subsequent Considerations directed and addressed for this especiall purpose 17. First then it is set downe and denounced in the Creed of S. Athanasius read euery sunday in the English Church by order of the communion booke that VVhosouer doth not belieue wholy and inuiolably the Catholicke fayth shall without doubt perish euerlastingly By which Catholicke fayth he vnderstandeth the whole Catholicke fayth and euery article or
saluation as S. Augustine that great pillar of the latin Church noteth a sinne the soule guilt whereof nec sanguine abluitur nec passione purgatur to close vp the period with that renowned Martyr S. Cyprian his wordes 4. The last but not the least nay the greatest cause of my comfort was when I really apprehended the candor serenity humility and sincerity of your Noble hart in submitting your selfe by remitting the tryall and decision of the foresaid imputation and suspition of heresie vnto the sacred Canon of holy Writ common Creedes the first foure generall Councels and the blessed Fathers of the first foure or fiue hundred yeares to all which vpon an assured I may rather say a supposed innocency integrity of your cause you appealed for the finall vmpiring and determining of any point in controuersy betwixt the Catholicks and your Maiesty Which impartiall and substantiall grounds as they were very prudētly religiously and with great maturity of iudgment proposed by your Maiesty according to the greatnes and soundnes of your Iudicious Apprehension so if they shall stand inuiolable and irreuocable like to the law of the Medes Persians which could not be altered backed by the word authority of so potent a Prince as your Maiesty is which may not be reuoked for the word is gone forth from the King you shall not only auert and auoid all sinister imputation and suspition whatsoeuer from your Royall Person but withall you shall giue a sufficient testimony by publike declaratiō of your Maiesties gratious disposition for matter of religion And that if ought haue bene exorbitant extrauagant or irregular in matter of your beliefe it is rather to be ascrybed to your violent education then anyway to be imputed to your owne voluntary obduration These things were of wonderfull comfort exceeding solace vnto me 5. But in the midst of this sweet repose whilst my wearied and perplexed thoughts seemed to refresh themselues with some kind of promised hope vpon the forsaid premises behold diuers other pointes of great anxietie sollicitude interposed themselues nay suddainly interrupted my former solace I meane not generally such pointes of your Maiesties Booke as may concerne other Christian Princes people and States how these thinges would be taken amongst them for in this behalfe I might not presume to preiudice your Maiestyes Graue Wisedome and I could not but imagine but that your Maiesty out of the depth of your owne Prouident Iudgement had duely and prudently preponderated all such probable ensuing sequeles and taken farre better counsaile then myne could be but such as particulerly respected and by necessary deduction of a certaine ineuitable consequence reflected properly vpon my selfe For wheras I had with the greatest deliberation that I could possibly imagine grounded vpon my owne peculiar experience of many yeares trauayle in the sacred volumes of Orthodoxe Antiquity made before a firme irreuokable resolution to abandon the Protestant Religion vpon inuincible arguments of great solidity and notorious discouery of execrable blasphemy palpable and detestable heresy against God his Christ his Church his Saints building my foundation vpon the mayne rocke of Auncient Primitiue Church Canonicall Scripture truly sensed by them Creedes and Councels digested collected established by them I now descried that your Maiestie intended to ground the cleane contrary Plea vpon the same heades for vindication of the protestant Religiō from the guilty crime of heresy the very intimation whereof inforced me I confesse before the all-seeing iudge and vnto your Soueraigne Maiesty my supreame terrene Lord next vnder him to looke about me and to enter into a second and more serious consideration and meditation of the foresaid heades againe least I might happily in a matter of the greatest moment and weightiest consequence in this world haue runne awry to the euerlasting wracke and ruine of my soule 6. Now for ought that may concerne your Maiesties Royall Person touching the imputation of heresie let that loud-crying sinne of open Rebellion against the soueraignty of heauen rather light vpon the enemies of God his Christ his Church and the enemies of my Soueraigne then vpon my Lord the King whom the God of Angels make as an Angell of God to discerne betwixt hereticall noueltie and Catholicke antiquity In the meane time I find no difficulty nay I do with all alacrity and sincerity of soule admit the difference betweene an Hereticke and him that giueth credit vnto Hereticks which S. Augustine admitted in the behalfe of his friend Honoratus seduced by the Donatists as your Maiesty is supposed to be mis-led by Protestants It is in that excellent Tract of his de vtilitate credendi written to his said friend Si mihi Honorate vnum atque idem videretur esse Haereticus credens Haereticis homo tam lingua quà m stylo in hac causa conquiescendum esse arbitrarer c. Cùm haec ergo ita sunt non putaui apud te silendum esse c. If I were perswaded O Honoratus that an Hereticke and the man who doth belieue Hereticks were all one and that there were no difference I should suppose that I might spare both tongue and penne in this point But now since there is no small difference betwixt the two forasmuch as he is an hereticke in my iudgement who for some temporall commodity and especially for renowne and soueraignty eyther bringeth forth false and new opinions of himselfe or els adhereth vnto them that are brought forth by others but he that giueth credulity to these kynd of men is such a one as is deluded with a certaine imagination of verity and pietie wherefore these thinges being so I haue thought good not to be silent or to hold my peace with you what my iudgment is concerning the finding out and retaining of truth 7. We then that be your Maiestyes Catholicke Subiects dutifull in mind though different in iudgment do out of the aboundance of our most loyall affection and to mitigate matters what may be vntill Almighty God of his infinite goodnes shall vouchsafe to put further remedy in your vnderstanding hart by a more cleare reuealing of his truth most cheerfully and charitably fasten vpon that pious religious true distinction of S. Augustine not ascribing that hatefull name of Hereticke vnto your Maiesty howsoeuer you seeme for the present to adhere and patronize such opinions of Protestant Religion as we vpon contrary groundes of Catholicke diuinity do hold to be heresies but rather we esteeme your Maiesty for a Prince that from your natiuity and tender infancy after the vnfortunate losse of your thirce Noble Catholicke Mother haue byn misguyded in matters of Religion by such as had your Noble Person in their gouerment whome yow haue belieued and consequently haue byn deceyued imaginatione quadam veritatis pietatis illusus to end the sentence with S. Augustine his wordes 8. And heere in all dutifull submission as a true English-harted man and loyall subiect to
so much as we heare on the one side the terrible horrour of the said Name and on the other side we see the common and to much vsed familiaryty therof in these our vnhappy tymes later and worser dayes which are so replenished with all kind of Sects and Sectaries as that each one commonly calleth the other Hereticke and that with as great facility and with as litle regard as if the accustomable practice of calling Hereticke had taken away the true sense and reall feeling of an Hereticke or as though he called him good fellow or witty inuentor of new opinions which amongst the Sectaries of our age is rather reputed for a pleasant iest and ingenious cōmendation then for that which in sober sadnes setting all Atheisticall scoffing and iesting in matters of such momēt a part it is to wit a terrible accusation and dreadfull charge of a most high and Capitall crime committed against God his Church his Sauiour and all to the destruction of his owne soule 28. But alas who doth not now adaies delight and esteeme himselfe the more for his sharpnes of wit subtile ingeny for inuenting finding out deuising framing new positions new translations new interpretations and that coyned stamped in the shop of his own braine therby of set purpose to impugne and of desperate malice to withstand some Catholick points of ancient Churches doctrine And if you tell him that he must keep him to the traditiō of the Church deliuer that to the sonnes of the Church which he hath vniformly receiued frō the Fathers of the Church that he must not remoue ancient bands in matters of beliefe for feare of a curse that he must reddere depositum as S. Paul chargeth Timothy and that with a vehement asseueration and what is that reddere depositū that is as Vincentius Lyrinensis excellently expounds it Quod tibi creditum est non quod à te inuentum quod accepisti non quod excogitasti rem non ingenij sed doctrinae non vsurpationis priuatae sed publicae traditionis rem ad te perductam non a te prolatam in qua non author esse debes sed custos non institutor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens that which is committed vnto thee not any thing inuented of thee that which thou hast receaued not deuised a matter of doctrine not of wit not of priuat vsurpation but of publicke tradition a matter brought vnto thee not brought forth of thee wherin thou must be no author but a keeper no maister but a scholler no guider but a follower Lastly tell him that he must content himselfe with being a relator only not presuming to be an author otherwise his position will proue innouation priuate inuention erroneous election and consequently heresy I say tell him all this and what more you can deuise and he will laugh at you for your simplicity in going about to terrify him with such buggs and in tying his spirit to any rule of church-Church-authority since the wind bloweth where it listeth c. which he fanatically applieth vnto his spirit presuming it to be inspired from aboue And with that spirit if you will belieue him vpon his bare word is he so inspired that he needeth no other direction no further instruction And this is all the accompt that he maketh of being a Catholicke or a choosing Hereticke But reflecting vpon the other syde of the Roman Religion which may truely and only be called Catholicke I experimentally found another kind of reckoning made of both these wordes Catholicke and Hereticke most highly esteeming the one as hath bene formerly spoken and fearfully declining the other as the origen and ofspring of all calamity 26. And first I found in the common doctrine of their Schooles they assigning Heresy for one of the three species or members of infidelity opposite to Christian Religion they hould it to be the worst most heinous of all three in respect of the extreame and desperate malice therof to wit that it is in a degree of euill and sinne worse and more damnable then either Paganisme or Iudaisme not for that all heresie denyeth more parts of Christian doctrine then do the Pagans or Iewes for in this the Pagan sinneth more then a Iew and a Iew commonly more then an Hereticke but because they do corrupt and impugne the Catholicke Christian faith which once they receiued and from which they are now wilfully departed which implieth more malice then can be ascribed to eyther Iew or Gentile that neuer receyued the same In which respect their sinne and damnatiō is more grieuous say Catholicke Doctors then is eyther of the other two Wherupon is inferred by S. Thomas and it is the common opinion that an Hereticke is in worse state then a Iew or Gentile for the life to come 30. Againe for further aggrauation and exaggeration of the horror of this Name and loud-crying sinne therby signified the Catholicke Deuines in a more particuler explication do constantly and with vniforme consent auerre that an Hereticke discrediting or not belieuing as he should any one article of the Catholicke faith doth loose his whole faith and habit thereof in all the rest And the reason herof is assigned by the Schoole Doctors for that the chiefe motiue or formall reason why a man doth belieue any thing in Christian Religion is because it is reuealed by God and propounded by the Church without which Churches propounding and approuing nothing can be securely belieued And therefore when an Hereticke in any one article discrediteth and detracteth from the authority of this Church which is necessary and primary condition in beliefe denying it thereby to be an infallible rule of beliefe in this one article he denieth the same in all the rest As for example if a man should aske a Protestant why he belieueth the Scriptures and S. Matthews Gospell to be S. Matthews Gospell he can answere no otherwise but that God hath reuealed the same vnto vs by the Church which propoundeth these books for Scripture Here then the proposition of the Church appertaineth to the formall reason or cause of beliefe as Deuynes doe tearme it which if once it be denyed or discredited in any one article as the Protestants do when we alledge it against them for Purgatory Prayer for the dead Sacrifice inuocation of Saints and the like then can it not hold in the former about Scriptures or any other article and consequently Hereticks haue no diuyne faith at all about Scripture or any other article but are meere Infidels in all and consequently shal be damned say they not only as chusing Heretickes beleeuing one thing and reiecting the other but as vnbelieuing Infidells deuoid of all faith Which seemed to me to be a very terrible commination and fearfull distriction and yet did I see it substantially grounded and so orderly deduced as that I must ingenuously confesse it so conuinced my vnderstanding and
most compassionate nay whose bowels burned with compassion within them towards the greatest and grieuous sinners as for example we read in that notable story of S. Iohn the Euangelist who ranne vp and downe the mountaines againe and againe after the first relapse to gaine a yong man that was a theefe as S. Hierome and other Church storyes witnes yet these selfe same men were so seuere against the enemies of Gods truth that they neuer could so much as indure the very sight and conuersation of an Hereticke And so we haue not only S. Iohn counsailing vs not to salute or conuerse with an Hereticke but also the said Apostle practizing the same euen in his owne person in his heroicall factes whensoeuer any iust occasion was offered For S. Irenaeus who liued in the next age after him and recounted it vpon the relation of S. Policarpe that liued with S. Iohn and happily might be present whē the thing was donne recordeth that S. Iohn being in the Citty of Ephesus at a common bath whither many did resort and vnderstanding that an Hereticke of his time named Cerinthus was within the bath he instantly departed againe would not enter into that bath with him who had departed out of the Church from him could not be perswaded to stay any while there affirming that he doubted lest the very foundation of those bathes would fall downe where such an enemy of God was presēt who had as much as in him lay ruinated the very foundation of Christian Religion denying the diuinity of the Sonne of God A notable example of this great Apostle left to all posterity giuing them a sufficient caueat euen by his owne person and example for auoiding of Heresy and hereticall company 41. And the same Irenaeus in the very same place before cited registreth this story of S. Policarpe himselfe to wit how he reiected and defied an Hereticke named Marcion that met with him and spake vnto him calling the said Marcion Primogenitum Diaboli the first begotten of the Diuell and then the Authour endeth his narration with this most graue and memorable Conclusion saying So great feare had the Apostles and Disciples not to communicate in any one word with any of those that haue adulterated and corrupted the truth euen as S. Paul saith Auoid an hereticall mā after one reprehension knowing that such a fellow is peruerted damned of himself So S. Irenaeus 42. And truly this one point ministred vnto me store of matter and exceedingly enlarged my meditation to consider on the one part how carefull and not only carefull but fearefull these ancient Fathers and Apostles were as Irenaeus testifieth to admit any conuersation or to enter into communication with Hereticks flying them as mōsters serpents and Diuels vpon earth and starting affrighted as it were with the bare name of Heresy and Hereticke and on the other side that now in our dayes the name and thing it selfe is growne to be so common and familiar as that we seeme to haue no sense or feeling therof so senselesse and benummed are we in our spirituall vnderstanding But this proceeds from a supine negligence and carelesse inconsideration for such as seriously ponder and earnestly debate the matter more deeply doe apprehend farre otherwise therof especially such as are addicted to the reading of ancient Fathers the surest refuge and pillars for a resolued soule to rely vpon for true direction in religion in these miserable dayes of Schisme Heresy and Apostasy Nulla saith the old holy martyr S. Cyprian cum talibus commercia copulentur nulla c. And let noe trafficke or conuersation be ioyned with such men noe banquets be made no speach had but let vs be as separate from them as they are separated fugitiues frō the Church 43. And after this Father againe that Atlas of his age and great Saint S. Athanasius writing the life of S. Antony the Monke doth set downe the opinion and feeling of them both in this point S. Antony saith he did so detest Hereticks as that he tould all men that they must not so much as come neere them alleaging the authority of S. Paul for the same who often and seriously talking of Hereticks doth inculcate these wordes Et hos deuita and these you must auoid And yet my author goeth further in this relation of S. Antony adding this that when the said holy man was at the point of death ready to breath out his soule into the hands of his Creator whome he had with all fidelity and seuerity so faithfully serued practising ouer and aboue the precepts of the law Christs high counsailes of perfection he exhorted the standers by especially and aboue all other things to beware of Heretickes and Schifmatikes and to auoid their poison Meumque saith he circacos edium sectamini Seitisipsi quod nullus mihi ne pacificus quidem sermo cum eis vnquam fuerit And do you imitate my hatred towardes them For your selues can beare me witnes that I had neuer so much as any peaceable speach with them This was S. Antony his resolution in this point and this was his last charge that this dying Saynt left vnto his lyuing friends 44. And of the same spirit and iudgment were all other Saints and holy Fathers ensuing that euerliued and dyed in the vnion and communion of the Catholicke Church and namely S. Leo the Great first of that name a most compassionate man other wayes as by his charitable workes of piety well appeared yet in this point of Heresie he was so inflamed with the zeale of God his true Religion so rigorous and seuere against the enemies of God his truth that he burst forth into this vehement exclamation against them Viperea Haereticorum vitate colloquia nihil nobis commune sit cum eis qui Catholicae aduersantes fidei solo nomine sunt Christiani Do you auoid the viperous and serpentine speaches and conferences of Heretickes haue you nothing at all to do with them that being aduersaries vnto Catholicke faith are only Christians in name So S. Leo. And in this point that Heretickes be not Christians but only in name and appellation he hath cōmonly all the ancient Fathers concurring with him with vniforme consent as namely S. Irenaeus S. Cyprian and Tertullian before mentioned which Fathers do euidētly proue that Heretickes are worse then Heathens Pagans or Infidels This argument is handled in like manner by S. Chrysostome and that largely in his 50. Homily ad populum Antiochenum and by S. Augustine in his 21. Booke de Ciuitate Dei cap. 25. by many other Fathers after them the reason whereof is set downe by S. Thomas in the beginning of this second Consideration 45. Vpon these groundes then reasons causes and contemplations the whole streame and ranke of Ancient Fathers do with full consent concurre in this one point do inculcate the same often in their writings to wit that it is
antiquity well the admonition is this Caue Christiane Lector c. Beware Christian Reader of the bookes of Iohn Caluin especially in the articles of Trinity of the Incarnation of the Mediator of Baptisme of Predestination c. for that they doe containe most impious and blasphemous doctrine So he VVhereby is vnderstood not only the censure of the Lutheran Church concerning the Caluinists doctrine but also in what articles the difference betwixt them doth principally consist and these are neither few in number nor meane in nature as you see confirmed by the particular exceptions VVhich articles are reiterated by other Lutheran writers as namely by Albertus Grauerus in his booke intituled The warre of Iohn Caluin with Iesus Christ which booke was set forth in the yeare of our Redemption 1598. wherin he sheweth that the Articles wherby the Lutherans do cheifly differ from the Caluinists hereticall doctrine are of the person of Christ of the Supper of our Lord of Baptisme and of Predestination And Iacobus Halbruneir another Lutheran Doctor published an other booke the same yeare before to proue Caluinisme to be heresy and to the former articles of Albertus he addeth other two wherin Lutherans and Caluinists do deepely dissent which are de Maiestate Christi Ministerio Verbi wherby he maketh it euident that Caluinists are truly and properly Hereticks to Lutherans And this for the second point 80. Yt resteth now that I come vnto the third ranke of English Protestants and Puritans which are two different sects of Caluins doctrine which are found togeather in no state or Kingdome perhaps of Christendome but only in England And although some Protestant writers for dissembling their owne diuisions when they deale with Catholickes will needes forsooth acknowledge them for brethren as not differing from them in any substantiall point of Doctrine yet in all their other writings eyther against them or of them they disclose playnly what they thinke of ech other holding them both for Schismaticks and Hereticks in respect of their Protestant Church Which being presumed by them as they must needes presume to be the only true Catholike Church it must needes follow that Puritans who from their innermost soules detest the same and the communion thereof as Antichristian must needes be Sectaries nay Heretickes to that Church And this is consonant to the doctrine of these Scriptures and most conformable to the opinion of ancient Fathers as is before copiously in the precedent Considerations asseuered 82. For confirmation of which dissention capitall and reall hostility betweene our Puritans and Protestants in sundry mayne points of their Religion I might heere alledge and produce infinite authorityes and innumerable arguments if I should not surcharge my Treatise The two bookes yet extant printed by publicke authority in one and the selfe same yeare I meane the Suruey of the holy pretended Discipline compiled as it is thought by him that is now arriued to the highest pitch of Ecclesiasticall dignity in that Kingdome and the other bearing the inscription of daungerous Positions ascribed to Doctour Sutcliffe both of them receyuing presse at London by Iohn VVolfe Anno Dom. 1593. do sufficiently notifie vnto the world how reconciliable the Puritan position is with the Protestant Religion and that in sundry Articles of great weight and moment And amongst many others which to auoid prelixity I purposly omit the titles of the 22. and 23. Chapters of the Suruey are these That they to wit the Puritans do take from Christian Princes ascribe vnto their pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall and in the oppugning theros do ioyne with the Papists Whereupon I inferre that if this spirituall Supremacy be any substantiall point of doctrine amongst the Protestants then the obstinate repugnance therof by the Puritans must needes be Schisme and Heresy 82. I pretermit diuers other bookes whereof I haue beene an eye witnesse how purposely and directly they treat of these matters as namely the Answere of the Vicechancelor Doctors of Oxford vnto the petition of a 1000. Puritans Anno Dom. 1603. wherein it is plainely conuinced that the Puritans hould their platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment of the gouerment of Christ vpon earth for a thing of no lesse importance then is the Ghospell of Jesus Christ. They hold it further for an essentiall part of their said Ghospell for a matter of faith to be receyued vpon paine of damnation for an essentiall marke of the true Church without the which the Protestants Church is no Church their faith no faith their Ghospell noe Ghospell c. And to conforme to that which M. Rogers writeth in his Preface to the Bishops Articles where he testifieth that the Puritans do hold their platforme differing from the Protestants to be a speciall part of the Ghospell yea the very Ghospell it selfe to be of such importāce as if euery haire of their heades were a life they ought to affoard them all in defence therof So they And in sober sadnes supposing their principles to be true haue they not great reason for that their differences be in so maine very substantiall points if we refere them to their heades wherof there is extant a very substantiall declaration and conuiction as to me it seemeth in the Preface of the Catholicke Deuine in his answere to Syr Edward Cookes fifth part of Reportes whither I referre the ingenous iudicious Reader for further perusall of this point for there it is shewed and irrefragably against all impugners therof proued how essentiall and substantiall difference of doctrine there is about the origen of Ecclesiasticall power and authority betweene the Protestantes Puritans and Catholickes of England the one that is the Protestāt ascribing it to their temporall Prince the other challenging it as most properly pertayning to their priuate Conuenticles Assemblies the last third to the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles the consequence wherof is this that whosoeuer of the three parties haue the right in this point there only is the true Church there alone is the true Ecclesiastiall Authority of preaching teaching or dayning Ministers administring Sacraments exercising Censures and Iurisdiction binding or loosing remitting or retaining sinnes and the like c. And for the other two Churches they do remayne as secular and prophane Congregations without any vitall spirit of Ecclesiasticall power at all Let them then contend neuer so much about the keys of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction yet the plaine truth is they shall neuer be able to open or shut the gates of heauen vnto their owne friendes or against their enemies 83. And for as much as the Puritans also in their plea do perswade themselues to haue the right on their side they must needes inferre the other consequence against the Protestant Church houlding it to be no Church as the foresaid answere of Oxford Doctors pag. 15. doth confesse that the Brownists do ancrre
this suffice for this article 40. Let vs now a litle cast about and take a view of the ninth article in order as the Creed naturally brancheth it and it is this Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam c. I belieue the holy Catholicke Church the wordes of this article are agreed vpon on all partes but the senses framed thereupon and belieued of different Christians are most different and repugnant For first those of the Roman truly Catholicke Religion do according to the exposition of ancient Fathers which is a most certaine and infallible rule of their fayth vnderstand by this Catholicke Church that visible Congregation of the first belieuing Christians gathered togeather in Hierusalem at the time of our blessed Sauiour his Ascension at which assembly the holy Apostles themselues who made this article were present togeather with the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and other holy men and women vpon whome the holy Ghost descended inlightened them and inflaming them to preach the name of Christ and further establishing and confirming them in the truth encouraging them to go forwardes manfully without feare of any opposite humane power and promising them that the power of Christ assistance of the same holy Ghost should be with them and the directors of them vnto the worlds end to preserue this Church and holy Congregation in all necessities and extremities so that the gates of hell and damnable errour should neuer preuaile against it 41. Moreouer the said Catholicke Christians did euer vnderstand this Church to be called holy in respect both of the great sanctity of her doctrine and the holines of many of her children who besides the precepts of the law as S. Gregory speaketh nay ouer and aboue the precepts of the law as S. Basill and S. Chyrsostome ioyntly speake should endeauour etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendere to transcend the precepts of the law by deuouting themselues vnto the obseruation of Christ his high Counsayles of Euangelicall perfection 42. Also this Church is called holy for the immediate and perpetuated assistance of the holy Ghost inspiring her inwardly directing her outwardly and especially for the meanes of sanctificatiō conuaied vnto her through the conducts of her Sacraments as chiefest and most holy instruments to that effect conferring grace for our assistance in the performing of all good works wherof none can be partakers to saluation out of this Church 43. This Church is also called Catholicke for the reasons before set downe in the first Chapter and first Consideration to wit that it is vniuersally spread ouer the world by the ministery of the Apostles in the very beginning and so hath hitherto continued still and euer shall to the worldes end and further it hath these signes and markes to be knowne by and to be distinguished from all hereticall Congregations whatsoeuer to wit Antiquity Vniuersality Vnion and Succession by descent of Bishops And finally for full complement it hath that communion of Saints both by vnion in fayth and communion of Sacraments which no other Schismaticall Cōuenticle or hereticall congregation hath and out of this communion there can be no possibility of life or saluation All this and much more which here I am constrayned to omit do those of the Roman Religion vnderstand by this article I belieue in the holy Catholicke Church the communion of Saints and it would require a whole volume to set downe the seuerall sentences discourses and authorities of ancient Fathers that iointly concurre in this exposition and explanation 44. But now on the other side if we cast our eyes vpon the state of the English Clergy we shall find that howsoeuer they do admit the same in wordes yea and subscribe therunto in their Ordination for that they teach their Rligion to follow their State as their State brought in their Religion yet exceeding great is the difference and large are their consciences in vnderstanding the same as may appeare in part out of the 19. article published by M. Rogers as agreed vpon by our English Bishops concerning the Church about which he hath seauen seuerall propositions first agreeing in some of them somwhat with the Catholicks and they haue learned it from the Catholicke Religion and as their vsuall practice is and then making their owne choyce to dissent and disagree at their pleasure as the inured custome of all Hereticks hath euer bene 45. His first proposition then is this There is a Church of Christ not only inuisible but also visible wherto supposing him to vnderstand of the true Catholicke Church for otherwise he saith nothing we do also agree as their Bishops in like manner may be supposed to do and yet can I speake this vpon my owne knowledg that it is against the common knowne tenent practice of their Academicall Schooles for there the question is amongst the most forward Protestants An Ecclesia sit inuisibilis whether the true Church be inuisible and yet is held affirmitiuely to wit that it is inuisible and not visible to manseies for the visibility of the Church tendeth to flat Popery which they cannot indure 46. His second proposition is That there is but one Church which we affirme also and they from vs haue learned so to speake and yet I do not see how the Protestant Puritan and other Sectaries Lutherans and Sacramentaries can make one Church they differing so fundamētally amongst themselues and in such weighty points of faith and religion as they do 47. His third assertion is The visible Church is a Catholick Church M. Rogers would haue said or at least wise should haue said that the Catholicke is a visible Church and the reason is for that all visible Churches are not Catholicke but all Catholick Churches are visible And what was the reason of this his incongruity of speach I do not see vnlesse he meant thereby to steale the name of Catholicke vnto euery visible Congregation of Sectaries which is clearly ouerthrowne by the definition and large explication of the word Catholicke set downe in the first Chapter 48. His fourth proposition is The word of God was and for tyme is before the Church which being vnderstood of the Scripture or written Word for otherwise it is nothing to our purpose it contayneth in it a senseles grosse absurdity for therupon it would follow that before Moyses tyme the first writer of the Bible which was more then two thousand yeares after the creation of man God had no Church because there was extant no written Word or Scripture which were very ridiculous to affirme But the only refuge that I can possibly perceaue that M. Rogers hath left him to make good his fourth assertion in proouing the word of God more ancient then the Church is to fly to the vnwritten word but this will not serue his turne neither since we haue only in this place to do with the litterall or written word of God begūne
Councell of Trent For iustifiing of which causes eight conditions are required by them to be obserued in that Councell wherof the fourth is That the decisions be made in all Controuersies onely out of Scriptures and not out of Ecclesiasticall Canons or traditions the fifth is That decisions be againe made not according to the plurality of voyces or suffrages but according vnto the norme and rule of Gods word But what this norme or rule is they expound not but do leaue it as they found it stil to be contended about VVherunto if we adioyne two other conditions of theirs which are the last to wit that the Protestant Ministers may giue voyces equally with Bishops in deciding of all questions that if they should not be able to defend their cause yet not only their persons should be secure but their cause also not to be condēned for heresy These I say if we add as the later vnto the former we shall plainely discerne that they had not so much as the least thought to stand vnto that Councell at all but to their owne heads and by these to their owne vnreasonable conditions and vnconscionable to make their controuersies and heresies endlesse and indeterminable For if euery man or at least euery Minister hath authority to determine out of Gods word whē will there be an end 33. And here you see the small or rather no hope that is of agreement betwixt Protestants and Catholickes by way of Generall Councells and that the Protestants reseruing themselues onely to Scripture for the decision of matters and not admitting generall Councells and Fathers to be vmpiring iudges of the sense meaning therof they tread first into the steppes and rake into the sacrilegious ashes of all former ancient condemned heretickes euen for this very point condemned by the Church in many of her generall Councells and secondly by such conditions they make themselues sure and secure from being condemned in such sort as that they will yeald therunto And the selfe same fundamentall reason or rather desperate refuge and euasion of theirs in prophaning and abusing this sacred Sanctuary of Scripture by their prophane spirits and vnhallowed glosses houldeth also for their neuer agreeing amongst themselues by Meetings Conferences Colloquies Disputations Synods or Councells for that the Lutherans and Sacramentaries whether Zuinglians or Caluinists for of these two only I meane to speake at this time standing vpon this resolute principle on all handes that nothing is to be determined but by Scripture and then ech one interpreting that Scripture differently from the other acknowledging no iudge on neither party how is it possible that they should euer come to any end of determination 34. And this will euidently appeare if we cast our eyes vpon those Conuenticles Meetings Conferences Synods Councels Colloquies held betwixt these reforming brethren for the space of threescore years togeather to wit frō the yeare 1530. vnto the yeare 1590. which are set forth by Stanislaus Rescius Embassadour vnto the King of Polonia at Naples vpon the yeare 1596. which do amount to aboue threescore Synods Coūcels Meetings held at Smalcaldium Frankesord Constance Tygure VVittemberge Berna Ratisbone Spire Norimberge Lipsia VVormes Luneburge Maulnbourne Petricouia Varadine Gratz Brunswicke Dresda Alba Iulia Cracouia and diuers other places all these and many more if we looke into with an indifferent eye we shall euer find that they were so farre from concluding any peace in religion or reconciling of their Controuersies by these Synodes and Councells as that they departed farre greater enemyes and more disagreeing in their opinions then when they first met witnes their departure at one meeting of theirs aboue mentioned when they would neyther giue nor take dextras fraternitatis nor dextras humanitatis fellowship of fraternity nor fellowship of humanity which is a token that they haue not the spirit of vniō nor any meanes left them to come vnto it and consequently that the example and president of these first foure generall Councells that determined with authority and vniforme iudgement the controuersies of their times ouer all the world do preiudice all togeather and condemne the Protestants of our age and do conuince that they are not of their spirit or religion and that neyther Generall Nationall Prouinciall or particuler Councells Synods or Meetings can bring themselues to any concord or agreement togeather especially diuision and dissention being a note as it is ascribed by all ancient Fathers peculiar vnto heretickes that they were alwaies irreconciliable and deuided amongst themselues And this was the effect of my second consideration The third Consideration MY third Consideration was that by reading these Councells I did not only find a complete Hierarchy and Ecclesiasticall regiment of the Catholicke Church to be obserued in those former ancient tymes consisting of Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Prelates gouerning the said Church conforme to that of the Catholickes of our dayes and wholy different from the Protestants Churches which they call reformed though in my iudgment they may more truely be called deformed in that they haue taken away all such Hierarchy of Bishops except only a small glimpse thereof reserued in England for a shew but in many other particuler points also I plainly perceaued their senses opinions and iudgments to be far dissonant from these of our Protestants whether we regard their practice for conuersation and reformation of our manners or respect their doctrine for instruction and information of our iudgments wherof God assisting I shall lay forth some few briefe and punctuall obseruations purposely pretermitting infinite others that may be gathered out of the foresaid foure generall Councells 36. In the first of the foure I meane Nicen and the 3. Canon therof these wordes represented themselues vnto my view Omnibus modis interdixit Sancta Synodus vt neque Episcopo neque Presbytero neque Diacono neque vlli Clericorum omnino licere habere secum mulierem extraneam nisi fortèmater aut soror aut auia aut amita vel matertera sit in his namque personis harum similibus omnis quae ex mulieribus est suspitio declinatur qui aliter praeter haec agitpericlitetur de Clero suo The holy Synod doth forbid by all meanes and determineth it to be vnlawfull for any Bishop Priest Deacon or any other of the Cleargy to haue any externe woman with them except perhaps it be their mother sister grandmother or aunt by father or mothers side for in these all suspition that may arise about dwelling with women is declyned and he that shall do contrary to this shall leese his Clergy Thus that first and famous Councell decreed ratified and enacted for the Angelicall continency of the Clergy in those dayes 37. And the true meaning of this holy Councell is according to the playne purport of the wordes as they are set downe in the Canon to wit that Clergy men could not marry after they
were of the Clergy at least nor yet vse their wiues that they had married before it seemeth more then euident by the playne words of the Coūcell for if it had bene lawfull to haue had a wyfe in the house the Councell would not haue omitted the same but would first of all other haue excepted the wyfe when it nameth mother sister aunt and grandmother 38. Besides this the Prouinciall Councell of Neocaesarea that was held not aboue some foure of fiue yeares before this Nicence Councel and of which Councell some of the same Bishops also sate in the said Coūcel of Nice decreeth the matter in the very first Canon in these wordes which are extant in three different translations Presbyter si vxorem duxerit ordine suo moueatur si autem sornicatus suerit aut adulterium commiserit penitus extruaatur ad poenitentiam deducatur If a Priest do marry a wife let him be remoued from his order of Preisthood and if he commit adultery or fornication let him be vtterly thurst out and brought to pennance And this Canon was confirmed afterwardes againe in the sixt generall Councell at Constantinople commonly called in Trullo almost toure hundred yeares after that of Nice and in the meane space betweene those two generall Councells there ensued diuers other Prouinciall or Nationall that confirmed the same as that of Eliberis Anno Dom. 3 2 5. Can. 33. Arelatense the second Cap. 2. and 3. Carthaginense the third Anno 397. wherin S. Augustine was present and subscribed Cap. 17. And Carthaginense the fift Anno 400. c. 3. Andogauense as Baronius recordeth Anno 453. Tolet an the second Cap. 3. Anno 5 3 1. and many others all cōmonly founding themselues as diuers ancient Fathers S. Basil Epiphanius and many others do vpon this Canon of the Nicen Councell which yet as I thinke our Bishops Ministers of England will not accept of For I am certaine their practice of wiuing is cōtrary to this Canon of Nice not withstanding their outward shew and pretence of admitting these foure first Councells 39. And albeit I know they haue here a certain shift taught them by M. Caluin out of the speach of Paphnutius who stood vp in the Councell of Nice against a decree that the said Councell would haue made against the vse of wyues in the Clergy that had bene married before they were Clergy men yet doth this help them very little For first Paphnutius only meant that Clergy men should not be barred from the company of their wiues which they had taken vnto them before they were of the Clergy but he doth not grant that they should take wiues after they were made Clergy mē nay that with the whole Councell he forbiddeth and condemneth but the English Church permitteth marrying also after they be Clergy men Thus you see supposing this a true story of Paphnutius it rather maketh against them then for them But Bellarmine doth proue by most euident arguments and reasons and namely by the authorities of Epiphanius S. Hierome Ruffinus and diuers others that the narration of Socrates and Zozomenus in this point of Paphnutius as in many other stories that they recount is nottrue 40. Another place I noted out of the 14. Canon of the said Councell of Nice whose wordes are these Peruenit ad sanctam Synodum quòd in nonnullis locis Ciuitatibus Diaconi dant Presbyteris Eucharistiam quod neque Canon neque consuetudo tradidit vt qui offerendi potestinem non habent ijs qui offerunt dent Corpus Christi It is come vnto the knowledg of this holy Synod that in diuers places and Cittyes Deacons do giue the Eucharist vnto Priests which neither the Canon of the Church nor custome hath deliuered that those that haue not power to offer Sacrifice should giue the body of Christ to those that do offer the same In which wordes though they be but few yet sundry weighty things are signified which make directly against the Protestants and Protestant Religion As first that the Eucharist was reserued in those dayes for the present vses of such as should haue need when there was no Priest to say masse and in such like necessities of the Church Deacons that had authority to administer the said Sacramēt to others might do it lawfully did presume also to do it vnto Priests as when they were sick and vpon such other like occasiōs and this they could not haue done except the Eucharist were kept and reserued forasmuch as here it is expresly said that they could not offer or say Masse 41. Secondly we may see here how much is ascribed vnto the Canon and Ecclesiasticall custome in so much as the whole Councell doth argue negatiuely thereof for so much as neither Canon nor custome hath deliuered this vse of the Deacon therfore it was an abuse how much more would they haue argued affirmatiuely from the authority of Ecclesiasticall Canon and custome had there bene any to the contrary 42. Thirdly the Eucharist is heere called Corpus Christi the body of Christ it is insinuated also that it is a true and reall sacrifice in that it is said that the Priest hath potestatē offerendi power of offering the same and the deacons haue not which cānot stand with the Protestants opiniō of a spirituall and metaphoricall Sacrifice of thankes-giuing only for certainely this kind of Sacrifice ' Deacōs may offer as will as Priests and consequently this Canon also seemeth nothing to agree with the doctrine of our English communion as neither do many others which to auoid prolixity I willingly ouer passe 43. Out of the second Councell to wit the first of Constantinople held vnder Pope Damasus in S. Hiercmes time I saw many things most worthy of due obseruation but those wordes of the seauenth Canon concerning the receiuing repentant heretickes into the Church I reflected vpon with some diligence as shewing the Churches manner of proceeding in those dayes Arianos quidē et Macedoni anos c. recipimus dantes libellos omnē haresim anathematizantes quae non sentit vt Sancta Dei Catholica Apostolica Ecclesia c. We do receaue saith the Canon such as haue bene Arians Macedonians Sabatians Nouatians and the like when they offer giue vp vnto vs the supplications accursing therein all heresies which doth not belieue as the holy Catholicke and Apostolicall Church of God doth and we receaue thē signed and annointed first with holy chrisme both in their foreheads their eyes their noses their mouthes and their eares when we signe them we do say signaculum doni Spiritus sancti this is the signe of the gift of the holy Ghost c. All these I say that desire to be admitted vnto the true fayth we do receiue them as Grecians c. And in the first day we make them Christians the second day Catechumenes and then thirdly we do exorcize and adiure them
that it was plaine madnes in the hereticke to make so small accompt of them Nay he further resolued and with mature deliberation concluded that the dogma ticall faith and belief of all these Fathers conspiring and agreeing togeather in one was to be defended against him and against all other such like hereticks as he was no other waies then Christs Ghospell was to be defended against Infidels His words are these 20. Aduersus hanc autem miserabilem quam deus auertat insaniam sic respondendum video libris tuis vt fides queque aduersus te desendatur istorum sicut contra impios Christiprofessos inimicos etiam ipsum defendetur Euangelium Against this miserable desperate madnes of thine which God turne from thee I do see that I must so answere to thy bookes that the faith of these Fathers be defended against thee as the very Ghospell it selfe of Christ is to be defended against impious men and as against the very professed enemies of Christ. So he And yet in another place pressing againe the authority of the said Fathers he doth intreat his aduersary Iulian to belieue these holy Fathers and by them to be made friendes with him yea to be reconciled vnto him and to the Catholicke Church from which he stood as yet separate And is not this the very same offer we make to the Protestants at this day And then S. Augustine going on forwardes in ratifiing their authority saddeth presently for further corroboration of the Doctrine and tradition of antiquity Quod credunt credo quod tenent teneo quod docent doceo quod praedicant praedico istis crede mihi credes acquiesce istis quiesces à me c. What these fathers do belieue I do belieue what they hould I hould what they teach I teach what they preach I preach yeald vnto these and you will yeald vnto me haue peace with these and you will haue peace with me And last of all saith he If you will not by them be made friendes with me at least wise be not you by me made enemy vnto them a goulden sentence and then he goeth forward saying shall Pelagius and Celestinus the Authours of your heresy be of such authority with you that you for their society will leaue the fellowship and company of so many and so great Doctors of the Catholicke faith and Church dispersed from East to West frō North to South and those both ancient and neare vnto our age partly dead and yet partly liuing So he 21. Which speach of S. Augustine doth seeme vnto me so fitly and properly to touch and concerne the Protestants of our dayes who for the loue of Luther Caluin Authors of their nouelties do forgo all the Doctors of the Catholicke Church not only ancient but moderne also as that nothing in my iudgment can be produced of nearer affinity to hould greater correspondency or be more like or more semblable 22. Neither yet doth S. Augustine determine only that the Doctors of the Church are absolutely the best witnesses and iudges in matters of Controuersy that arise and spring vp after their dayes but togeather with his authority which had bene alone sufficient he yealedeth a very substantiall and conuincing reason for the same and it is this that the Fathers could not be partiall iudges of such causes as came into Controuersy after their deaths for that they gaue forth their verdict and iudgment before any controuersy was stirred or moued about the same And thus much do his wordes import as they follow 23. Tunc de ista causa iudicauerunt saith S. Augustine quando cosnemo dicere potest perperà m quicquam vel aduersari velsauere potuisse Nondum enim extiteratis c. The Fathers did iudge of this cause at that time when no man can say that they did wrongfully fauour or disfauour any party For that you Pelagians were not then in the world with whome we might haue contention about this question c. They did not attend vnto any friendship eyther with vs or with you they did not exercise amity or emnity with eyther of vs they were angry neyther with you nor with vs neyther yet had they commiseration towards any of our partes that which they found in the Church they held that which they learned they taught that which they recyued and learned from their Fathers by tradition they taught and left vnto their children We did not as yet plead with you before these Iudges yet by them was our case decided and determined nor you nor we were knowne vnto them and yet do we out of their workes produce their sentences against you VVe had as yet no strife with you nor pleaded any cause and yet haue we conquered you by their verdicts Hitherto are the wordes of S. Augustine 24. VVhich when I had considered pondered well with my selfe as also reflected vpon all S. Augustine his former sentences compared them all togeather and conferred them with the state of our present time and manners of men therein I seemed to behold as in a cleare glasse before the eyes of my vnderstanding the very person and selfe same cause of S Augustine to be in the Catholicke writers of our dayes as contrariwise also that of the Pelagians and of other old heretickes to be in the Protestants the one and the other making like accompt of the ancient Fathers I meane the Catholickes esteeming them highly and standing to their iudgment the others reiecting them where they make against them which as it hath bene sufficiently proued before so might I here adioyne also many other proofes therof if I would spend more time in alleaging their sentences Let M. VVhitakers assertion speake for all who of this matter writeth thus If you argue from the witnes of men be they neuer so learned and ancient we yeeld no more to their wordes in cause of sayth and religion then we perceaue to be agreeable to Scripture Neyther thinke you your selfe to haue proued any thing although you bring against vs the whole consent swarme of Fathers except that which they say be iustified not by the voyce of men but of God himselfe The second Consideration AS my first consideration was wholy conuersant about the iust deserued credit of ancient Fathers agreing to geather in generall eyther in the full voice of all or in the greatest part and consent of them so was my second imployed about the same credit authority of particuler Fathers eyther one or two or more auerring any thing which was not reprehended by others in matters of religion About which poynt I saw lesse ascribed in his Maties Booke vnto their promerited estimation then Catholickes do hold in their Orthodox assertions and much lesse then I my selfe had purposely read and obserued in the former mentioned holy Father S. Augustine concerning that poynt For as his Maiesty yealded lesse to the common consent of Doctors which must