from Calvin to the Apostles time hardlie one Christian of a thousand could be saved That if the question be touching Histories it is certaine we must begin by the Ancientest and that it belongs to our Adversaries to shew where their Religion was in the time of the Apostles afore they speake of the time before Calvin There they are at a stand and driven to a non-plus and not being able to shew their Religion in the Apostles writings they send us back to an unwritten word which depends on the Popes Authority whom they make judge in his owne cause and make the Church of Rome the Soveraigne Judge of her owne proper duty The principall is that the Christian Church is subject to the Lawes and to the practice of the Church of the Apostles time and not to the example of what was done before Calvin Of whom they speake as of the Inventer of our Religion because he exhorted us to beleeve the holy Scriptures For Calvin gave us not any Lawes We speake not of him in our Sermons we ground not our selves upon his authority we doe not say of him what the Church of Rome saith of the Pope to wit that he could not erre We doe not call our selves Calvinists as our Adversaries acknowledge themselves to be Papists and make glory of that title as * Certe nullo sublimiori gloriae titulo exornare nec certius eos esse Catholicos demonstrare potuissent quà m eos nuncupare Romanos atque Papistas Cardinall Baronius doth in his Martyrologie at the 16 of October where he saith that a man cannot be adorned with a higher degree of glory than to bee called a Papist So that after his account the title of Papist is of as much worth as the name of a Christian This demand is so much the more absurd as it is made unto us For when they aske of us where our Religion was before Calvin they presuppose that the Orthodoxe Church ought to be visible in all ages Which the Scripture saith not but foretels us of great revolts and false Doctors that shall teach men to abstaine from Marriage and from meates which God hath created for to be received with thanksgiving 1. Timoth. 4.3 It foretels us that all the Earth ravished in admiration shall goe after the Beast Revel 13 3. and that when Christ shall come hardly shall he find faith on the earth Luke 18.8 2. Thes 2. Revel 17. It tells us of the Sonne of perdition that shall bee called God and shall doe wonders and of the great harlot cloathed with scarlet who sitteth in the Citty with seaven hills that raigneth over the Kings of the earth which seduceth Kings and makes them drunke and is made drunke with the blood of the Saints and Faithfull It tells us in the twelfth of the Revelation that wings are given to the Church for to flie into the Wildernesse and live there hidden for a time It warnes us that the broad way where the throng of Peoples passeth leadeth into perdition Which things afford us another consideration That is if a Cut-purse asketh him whom hee hath robbed of his purse Where is thy Purse This theefe addeth scoffing and derision to his theft So the Pope who since so many ages hath persecuted to the uttermost the Church of God and endeavoured to abolish it addeth to this violence this derision and scoffing when he asketh Where was your Religion at that time For it were rather his part to informe us where hee had put her himselfe and to what passe he had reduced her In the meane while though we are not bound to answer to such an absurd and injust a demand and which doth not at all concerne Religion and being propounded by men whose Religion is new and that have swerved from the Ancient Christian Religion and who even say that the Pope may add unto the Creed new Articles of Faith Yet we say that it is foure or five hundred years agoe since the Pope persecuteth with fire and sword the Faithfull ones whereof there was a great number in France in the Low countries England Germany Bohemia and Hungaria to whom our Adversaries gave odious nicknames calling them Valdenses Albigenses Sodomites Picards c. And fathering upon them many impious and abhominable doctrines fâ—rre from their beleife Of whom were Massacred in few months by one Domiâ—ick Author of the Order of the Jacobins above two hundred thousand in Languedoe and Gasconie in Pope Innocent the third his time Of these faithfull people we have the Confession agreeable to ours written in their owne Language a residue of which People remaines still in Bohemia Hungaria Moravia and in the Valleys of Angrogne Luzerne Peruse Saint Martin Pragela Merindoles and Cabrieres which Churches have joyned themselves to ours so soone as it pleased God to display in France and the neighbouring Countries the Banner of his Gospell And the sudden alteration that hapned in Luthers time shewed that Europe was full of People that knew the truth and groaned after a Reformation which the Pope promised alwayes but would never suffer it to come to execution And for to specifie some thing touching the age immediatly before Calvin Aeneas Sylvius who in the yeare 1458. attained to the Popedome was a capital enemie to the faithfull of whom in his time Bohemia and Hungaria and the neighbouring Countries were full and was a firebrand of warre for to provoke the Emperours and Popes to persecute them Wherefore his testimony in this point is the more worthy of credit This man in his 130 Epistle describeth his journey to Tabor a City in Bohemia and the Religion of the Inhabitants and the Conferences he had with them Their sect saith he is pestilentious and abhominable and worthy of the uttermost punishment They will not admit the Church of Rome to have the Primacy nor that the Clergie should have any thing in propriety They pull downe the Images of God and of his Saints They deny Purgatory They hold that the Prayers of Saints which raigne with Christ availe nothing unto men They observe no holy day but the Lords day and Easter Contemne fasting and the Canonicall Prayers They give the Eucharist under the kindes of bread and wine even to little Children and to madde men When they consecrate the Sacrament they say nothing but the Lords Prayer and the words of Consecration They change no habits and take not any ornaments Yea some of them are so madde as to hold that the very body of Christ is not in the Sacrament of the Altar but that it is onely the representation thereof being wandring Sactators of Berengarius unconverted Among the Sacraments of the Church they admit the Baptisme and the Eucharist and Marriage and Orders But as for the Sacrament of Penance they make little account of it But of Confirmation and extreame Vnction they make no reckoning at all They are very opposite to the Religions of Monkes and affirme they be diabolicall
massacre them as to those that went into Syria against the Sarasens for to reconquer Christs Sepulcher to whom he gave the remission of all their sins and a degree of glory above the ordinary as may bee seene in the Bull of Innocent the third placed at the end of the Councell of Lateran The Earle of Montfort having with him one Dominicke author of the Order of the Jacobins with an army of these crossed ones did massacre in a few moneths above two hundred thousand of them And for to strengthen and fortifie this abuse there was no speeche in those times but of miracles coyned of purpose tending to the worshipping of Images and establishing of the reall presence of Christs body in the Eucharist They gave out to the people that such an Image had sweated blood that another had nodded his head That a woodden Crucifix prickt in the side had cast blood This fable is recited by Fulgoslib 1. c. 6. And by Nauclerus Gener. 44 That to an Image of the Virgin Maries brought from Damascus breasts of flesh were grown upon the wood That in such a place the Host had appeared in the forme of a child and an Angell by it that did hacke him to peeces That an Hoste pricked by a Jew had gushed out blood and being cast into a great cauldron or kittle was turned into a man as is to be seene yet at this day in Paris represented upon the forefront or porche of the Church of the Billetes The life of Saint Anthonie of Padoua saith that he presented the consecrated Hoste to an Asse which presently left eating of his Oates and worshipped the Hoste a Albertu Krantzius Metropol lib. 1. ca. 9. Wedekindus a Saxon Prince saw a child thrust into the mouth of the Communicants b Paschasius Rathertus de corpore sangnine Domini c. 14. Guil. Mal. mesbur l. 3. cap 27. An Angell did present Christ in the Masse unto a Priest called Plegâ—ls in the shape or forme of a childe which he kissed and imbraced with great courage 〈◊〉 A little Jewish boy comming by chance into the Church as he was playing saw upon the Altar a little boy that was minced and cut into small peeces and thrust by small lumps into the mouths of the Communicants Thomas Cantipratensis in his second Booke of Miracles Chapter 40 saith that at Doway in the yeare 1260. the consecrated host being fallen to the ground rised up againe of it selfe and pearched it selfe upon the cloth wherewith the Priest did wipe his hands in the shape or forme of a fine little boy who instantly became a tall man having a crowne of thornes upon his head and two drops of blood running downe from his forehead on both sides of his nose Jodoeus Coccius collected about one hundred of such miracles Iodoeus Coccius Thesaur Tom. II. lib. 6. de Eucharistia For in Berengarius his time such miracles were very rise and frequent Matthew Paris an English Historian in the yeare of the Lord 1247 relates that the Templers of the holy land sent to Henry the third King of England a little Christall bottle full of the true blood of our Saviour Christ that he shed upon the Crosse which Cristall bottle that silly King carried upon his nose to Westminster Church in Procession a foot clothed with an old sleâ—velesse gowne Salmeron the Jesuite in the XI Tome and fifth Treatise page 35. saith that at Rome in the Church of Lateran there is some of Christs blood kept Item in the Church of Saint Maximin at Rome which Marie Magdalen gathered up at the foote of the Crosse There was also at Rochelle some kept as the same Jesuite saith in the same place Sigonius in his fourth Booke of the reigne of Italy * Forte saÌ„guinis ex imagine crucâ—fiâ—â— Salvatoris in syria effusi portio delata MaÌ„tuam fuerat c. Carolus Leonem Pontisicem per literas obsecravit ut accurate horum miraculâ—rum vâ—ritatem vellet explorare compertam sibi significare Ob id Leo Roma â—gâ—â—ssâ—s Mantuam venâ—t re cognâ—ta ad C roâ—tum ser psit saith that in the yeare 804. was brought out of Syria to Mantua a portion of the blood that ran out of the Image of a Crucifix which did many miracles And that the fame of it being come to Charles the Great he intreated by letters Pope Leo to enquire of the truth of the matter And that the said Pope having knowne and perceived the truth of the thing wrote to Charle-maine touching the same And in the eighth Booke in the yeare 1048. he saith that the inhabitants of Mantua having forgotten this blood and knowing no more what it was this blood beganne againe to doe miracles Vasquez the Jesuite upon the 76 question of the third Part of Thâ—mas * Art 8. saith that yet at this day there is in Spaine some of Christs blood kept in Reliques Thus the darknesse grew thicke and the mysterie of iniquity strengthened it selfe dayly more and more the kings having no knowledge at all of the holy Scripture and trembling under the Popes thunderbolts and excommunications and powring abundance of wealth and riches into the bosome of the Clergie for the easing of their soules after death And for a full measure of mischiefe new Orders of Mendicant Friers did spring up namely the Franciscans and Dominicans whereof Francis Assisias in Italy and Dominick Calarogensis in Spaine were the first Founders in the yeare of our Lord 1216. and 1223. An incredible multitude of these Monks were dilated and spâ—ead over all the regions of the Popes Empire who made use of them as of so many torches and trumpets for to provoke and encourage Princes to the persecution of the faithfull And it was the said Monks that hâ—ve coyned and forged the Schoole Divinity all bristled with pricks and twisted about with subtilties much like unto the Cray-fish in which there is much picking but little to eate It is from this Divinity that suttle distinctions are drawne wherewith they cover themselves against the truth Aâ—istotle is alleadged there a great deale oftner than the Apostle Saint Paul Thus it behooved the mysterie of iniquitie should advance it selfe At the birth of these begging Friers Innocent the third in the yeare 1215. called a Councell at Rome in the Lateran Church in which the word of Transubstantiation not as yet received by any definition in the Roman Church was established by an expresse Canon and authority of Councell CHAP. IX Of the Judgement which the Doctors of the Romane Church doe make touching the apparitions whereby a little Child or a morsell of flesh hath appeared at the Masse in the hands of the Priest and touching Christs blood that is kept in Reliques A Long time hath beene that if one had doubted that a childe or a pâ—â—ce of flâ—sh that had appeared in a Priâ—stâ— hand were not truely Christ and that Christs blood that was kept in
the power of Priests who make him and pin him up and walke him and may if they will cast him into the fire As Gabriel Biel a famous Doctor saith in the first Lesson upon the Canon of the Masse †Biel Lect. 1. in Canonem Missae Super utrumque corpus Christi Sacerdos insignes habet potesiates The Priest hath great power over the one and the other body of Christ that is to say over the Church and over the consecrated hoste Whereupon he addeth * Quis hujus rei â—ndâ—t similia Qui creavit me si fas est dicere dedit mihi creare se Eâ— qui creavit me creatur mediante me Who ever saw things like unto this He that hath created me if I may say so hath given me to create him And he that hath created mee without me is created by my meanes Thus Priests doe create Christ in the Masse and make Christ who is made already As if one should beget a man already born CHAP. VII That the very words of the Masse are contrary to Transubstantiation IN the midst of this alteration of the Lords Institution God hath permitted that in the Masse some clauses should remaine which manifestly condemne the Transubstantiation For a great part of the Canon of the Masse are prayers which have beene added when they did not yet beleeve the Transubstantiation As when the Priest having before him the consecrated hoste saith * Osserimus praeclarae â—uae Majestati de tuis domis datis hostiam puram Wee offer to thine excellent Majesty of thy gifts and presents a pure hoste By these gifts they understand at this day Christ himselfe Surely never a man in his right sense called Christ gifts and presents in the plurall But that agrees very well with the bread and wine The Priest goes on saying †Supra quae propitio aâ— sereno vuliu respicere digneris accepta habere sicut accepta habere d gnatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel Vpon which things vouchsafe to looke with a cheerefull eye Is it not a jeast to call Christ these things and for a full measure of abuse to aske of God that he may looke upon Christ with a gracious eye as if Christ had need of our recommendation Moreover the Priest demandeth of God afterward that he would be pleased to have these gifts and presents as acceptable as he had acceptable the presents of Abel That is to say that Christ may be as acceptable unto God as the beasts sacrificed by Abel This prayer is good being said upon the bread and the wine but being said upon Christ it is altogether blasphemous Chiefly this is evident in that the Priest looking upon the consecrated hoste and the chalice saith that * Per Christum Dominum nostrum per quem haec omnia Domine semper bona creas sanctificas vivificas henedicis by Christ our Lord God creates alwayes for us these good things sanctifies them and vivifies them Can Christ be called these good things Doth God create and vivifie Christ alwayes And since God creates these things through Jesus Christ as the Masse saith it is certaine these things are not Christ But all that agrees very well with the bread and wine We must not omit that Christ giveing the bread to his Disciples said simply Take Eate But in the Canon of the Masse there is Accipite manducate ex hoc omnes Take and eate all of it Whosoever added these words E X HOC lie did not beleeve that in the Eucharist the Lords body was really eaten by the mouth of the body For to eate of that is to eate a part thereof and not all Which cannot be said of Christs naturall body CHAP. VIII Recrimination of our Adversaries THe Prophet Elisha accused the Israelites of Idolatry and of forsaking Gods Covenant They out of revenge called him bald-pate which was a reproach nothing belonging to the doctrine We stand upon the like termes with our Adversaries We accuse the Roman Church to have brough in Idolatry in the Masse worshipping of the Sacrament and a Sacrifice of Christs body which Christ hath not instituted To have taken away from the people the halfe of the Sacrament To have changed the nature of the Sacrament yea of Christ himselfe which are thing of importance and altogether essentiall to the Eucharist and to Christian Religion But they out of recrimination tell us that we have likewise changed many things in the Lords Institutution For say they ye solemnizâ— the Supper in the morning but Chriâ—â— instituted it after Supper Ye celebrate it in a Temple but Christ did celebrate it in an upper Chamber Yee receive women to the Communion But when Christ instituted the Eucharist there were none but men Things whereof the two first are indifferent and all three not onely are not of the essence of that Sacrament but even make no part of that action To this objection Christ affords us an answer For hee said Doe this in remembrance of mee Hee said not Doe this in such a place nor at such an houre nor with such a Sexe or such persons But hee said Doe this commanding us to doe as hee hath done and to imitate his action Christ did not exclude women If any had beene there present worthy to be partakers of the holy Supper he would not have rejected them CHAP. IX Causes why the Pope admitteth not of any alteration in the Masse and will not conforme himselfe to the Lords Institution THough the abuse be so apparent yet the Church of Rome and the Pope will not let goe their hold and suffer any change or alteration to be made in the Masse The cause of that is easie to be knowne For if the Church of Rome should yeeld to the least alteration it would overthrow the three Maximes that are the basis whereon all Popery is grounded whereof the first is that the Church of Rome cannot erre the second that the Pope and Church of Rome are not subject to the holy Scripture and have greater authority than the holy Scripture the third that the Pope and Church of Rome have power to change Gods Commandemens and make new Articles of Faith All which things are seene not one by practice in that all the doctrine 〈◊〉 the Roman Church is contrary to thâ— holy Scripture but also by example of Popish Councels and open profeâ—sion of the principall Doctors of thaâ— Church whereof I will alleadge soâ—â— places in the next chapter CHAP. X. Places wherin the Doctors and Councels of the Roman Church maintain that the Pope and the Church of Rome are not subject to thâ— Scripture and have greater authority than the Scripture anâ— may make voide and abolish thâ— Commandements of God THe Romish Decree and its Glosseâ— are all stuffed with this brave maxime * Can. Lect. Dist 34. in Gloss Papa dispensat contra Apostolum Innec III. Dâ—cretaâ—â—le Concessione Praeâ—end Tu. 8. c p. Proposâ—â—t
Gabriel Biel and the old editions of Saint Austin have oportet Reason also requireth it For it would be repugnant to common sense to say that the body of Christ may be in one place as if one should say that the Sunne may be in one place it were to say that it may be in no place Cyril of Alexandria in his eleventh booke upon Saint John chap. 3. * Dâ—st 10. A. Thomas 3. parte suâ—â—mae qu. 75. art 1. Gabr el Biel Lell 39. in Canonem M ssâ— Eâ—st abest corpore Patri pro nobis apparens ac à dextris ejus sedens habitat tamen in Sanct is per Spiritum Though he be absent in body appearing for us before his Father and sitting at his right hand he dwelleth in his Saints through his Spirit He supplyeth the want of his corporall presence by giving his Spirit and nor in keeping himselfe hidden under the accidents of bread The Eutychian hereticks spake as our Adversaries doe For they said thâ—â— Christs body is present on earth as well as in heaven by an invisible presence Against whom whither Vigil or Gelasius Pope hath written five Bookes in the first whereof he speaketh thus * Vigil l. 1. Dei silius secundum humanitatem suam recessit à nobis Secundum divinitateÌ„ suaÌ„ alt nobis Ecce sum vobiscum usque ad consummationem saeculi The Sonne of God according to his humanity hath left us and withdrawne himselfe from us But according to his divinitie he saith unto us I will be with you till the consummation of the world And in the 4 Booke †Lib. 4. Quando in terra fuit non erat utique in coelo Et nunc quia in coelo est non est utique in terra When Christs flesh was upon earth it was not in Heaven and now that it is in Heaven it is not on earth Even as Vigilius saying that when Christs flesh was upon earth it was not in heaven understood it was not in heaven neither visibly nor invisibly So when he saith that now it is no more on earth he meaneth it is not there neither visibly nor invisibly That if he meant or understood that Christs flesh is present unto us invisibly then would he plead the Eutychians cause for that was their opinion To be short the Apostle to the Ephesians chap. 3.17 saith that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and not in our stomacks in the midst of meat When we aske of them after what manner the body of Christ is present in the Sacrament they answer that it is not present there circumscriptively as wine is enclosed in a tunne or caske nor definitively as immateriall spirits But that it is Sacramentally present This answer truly is ridiculous For to say that Christ is in the Sacrament sacramentally present is a thing as absurd as to say that a man which is in a Temple is there Templarily present and he that is in a Coach is present in it Coacharily Moreover it is certaine that by this answer they come to be of our side For they say themselves that this word Sacrament signifieth a sacred signe Therefore to be present sacramentally signifieth no other thing but to be present significatively and by figure and representation CHAP. XIV Confession of our Adversaries acknowledging that Transubstantiation is not grounded in the Scriptures That the Primitive Church did consecrate by the prayer and not by these words This is my body THe most learned of the Roman Church ground their Transubstantiation not upon these words This is my body but upon the authority of the Church of Rome which as they hold cannot erre Scotus which is termed the suttle Doâ—tor upon the fourth of the Sentences Dist 11. quest 3. saith There is no place 〈◊〉 be found in the Scripture that may wi hout the determination of the Church compellâ— man to beleeve the Transubstantiation Vpon which place Cardinall Bellarmine in his 3. booke of the Eucharist chap. 23. speaketh thus * Secundo dicit non extare loâ—uÌ„ ulluÌ„ Scripturae tam expressuâ—â— ut sine declara â—â—ne Ecclesâ—â—â—â—â—dentâ—â— cogaâ— Trasubstant â—â—â—ionem admittâ—â—â— Et id non est omatâ—â— improhahile Nam et si Scriptura quam 〈◊〉 suprà ad duxâ—â—â— videatur nobis 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ra ut possiâ—◠〈…〉 non proteâ—â—â—umâ— tamen an 〈◊〉 sit merito dubitarâ— poâ—est cum 〈◊〉 nâ—s doctissiâ—â— acurat â—â—â—mi qualâ—s imprâ—â—â— Scotus 〈◊〉 â—â—â—trarium sentiant Sc tus saith that there is no place in the Scripture so expresse as to compell evidently without the declaration of the Church to receive the Transubstantiation And that is not altogether improbable For although the Scripture that we have alleaged seeme to us so plaine that it may compell a man not proud or insolent yet neverthelesse it may justly be doubted whether it be so or no seeing the most acute and learned men such especially as Scotus was are of a contrary opinion And in the same place he tels us that Scotus saith that Transubstantiation was not an article of faith before the Councell of Lateran held Anno 1215. For that cause Vasquez the Jesuite upon the 3. part of Thomas Disp 180. chap. 5. having represented the opinion of Scotus who saith * Scotus docet potuisse servari veritatem verborum consecrationis etiamsi in Eucharistia maneret substantia panis v ni that the truth of the words of consecration might have beene preserved though the substance of the bread and wine had remained in the Eucharist to whom also Durand joyneth himselfe blameth Bellarmine without naming him for saying that the opinion of Scotus is probable accuseth him of halting on both sides We see †Videas aliquos Theologiae Professores nostriceporis qui in utraÌ„que parteÌ„ al quaÌ„tulum clau diâ—aÌ„tes non putant improhahile id quod Scotus de verhis consecrationis dixit saith he certaine professors in Divinity in our times who halting a little on both sides do not esteeme improbable that which Scotus hath said touching the words of consecration Of that number of learned and acute men was Cardinall Cajetan who in hiâ— notes upon Thomas speaketh thus * Cajetanus in 3. Thomae q. 75. art 1. Alterum quod Evangelium non explicavit expresse ab Ecclesia accepimus scile conversionem panis in corpus Christi Thâ— other point which the Gospel expoundeth nâ—â— expresly we have received it from the Church to wit the conversion of the bread into the body of Christ Item Conversio non explicate habetur iâ— Evangelio The conversion of the bread is not to be found explicitly in the Gospel The Cardinall de Alliaco †Petr. de Alliaco in 4. Sent. q. 6. art 2. Patet quod ille modus est possibilis nec repugnat rationi nec authoritati Bibliae immo est sacilior ad intelligendum rationabilior quà m aliquis aliorum It appears that this manner which supposeth that
of Trent c Vt Augustinum Basilium c. taceam quorum non semper sumus opinionibus addâ—â—â— I say nothing of Austin Basil Athanasius both Cyrils Chrysostome and Epiphanius to whose opinions we are not alwayes tyed Pererius the Jesuite in his eighth Book upon Genesis Disp 1. d Pudet dicere quae de optimâ—â— scriptoribus hoc loco dicturâ—â— sâ—â—m adco sunt non modo faâ—sa sed pudeadâ— absâ—â—dâ— I am ashamed to tell what I must say here against the best writers so much doe they say things not oneâ—â— false but also shamefull and absurde Now the Fathers whom he meaneth are Justin Martyr Ireneus Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus Cyprian Ambrose Lactantius Eusebaus Sulpitius Severus Salmeron the Jesuite in the eight Prolegomene a Pag. 85 Quisque Patrum diverse ab alio unum locum exponit immo etiam unus idem vario modo Every Father expoundeth one place of the Scripture otherwise than the rest yea one and the same Father expounds it in severall fashions And in the third Prolegomene pag. 13. he bringeth many examples of Fathers which contradict themselves The same man in the 51 Disput upon the Epistle to the Romanes acknowledgeth that the Fathers generally are against him in the point of the Conception of the Virgin Mary Whereupon he shifts off thus b Contra hanc quam objectant multitudinem respondemus ex verbo Dei Exod. 23. In judicio plurimorum non acquiosces sententiae ut devies à vero Against this multitude objected against us we answer by the Word of God Exodus 23. Thou shalt not yeeld in judgement to the opinion of many c Ego ut ingenuè fatear plus uni summo Pontifici crediderim in his quae sidci mysteria tangunt quà m mille Augustinis Hieronymis Gregorijs for to decline from the truth Cornelius Mus Bishop of Bitonto upon the 14 chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes I would give more credit to confesse it ingenuously to one Pope than to a thousand Austine a thousand Hieromes a thousand Gregories I should never make an end if I would produce all the places wherein our Adversaries abuse the Fathers and accuse them of error or of untruth or of ignorance and have reason in some things in others not a Chrys honul 45. in Matth. 21. in Iohannem Chrysostome accuseth often the Virgin Many of mbition temeritie and importunitie b Iustin Deal in T â—ph Cle. 6. Strom. Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus say that God created the Sun and the Moone that the Gentiles might worship them least they should bee without Religion c See Ireneus in his 5. Booke Justin Ireneus Lactantius Ambrose Tertullian and many others were Chiliastes holding a Reigne of Christ that is to endure one thousand yeares in feastings and carnall delights d Lâ—b 1. de Spirâ—tu Sancto c. 2. Ambrose teacheth that Baptisme conferred in the name of the Holy-Ghost without naming the Father or the Sonne is good and warrantable Austin hath condemned the Children dead without Baptisme to the eternall flames Cyprian taught the Rebaptization of Hereticks and assembled a Councell in which hee did condemne the doctrine of the Roman Church a Lib 10. de Trinitate in Psal 68 138. in Psal 118. litera Gimel Hilary taught that our Saviour Christ suffered no paine at his death And that the Virgin Mary is to be purged by the fire of the last judgement b Hier. lib. 1. 2. in Iovinianii saepe alibi Saint Hierome calleth Marriage an ignominie â—he end whereof is death and the persons marryed Vessels unto dishonour c Hier. iâ—â— Epist ad Titum c. 1. He taught also that Bishops and Priests are equall by divine right Whereupon Bellarmin in his first Booke de Pontif. chap. 8. saith This opinion is false and must bee refuted in its due place Gregory of Nice in the first Oration of the Lords Resurrection teacheth that when Christ instituted the Eucharist his body was already dead and that his Soule was in hell For which he is censured by the Jesuite Salmeron saying d Salm Tomo XI Tract 7. de modo resurr Christi pag. 49. Cujus in verbis continentur multa non satis in Ecclesia recepta In these words of Gregory there are many things which the Church doth not approve off Clemens Alexandrinus teacheth that the Pagans were saved by Philosophy Tertullian maketh God to be corporall Clement the first Bishop of Rome in a Decretall Epistle will have goods and women to be common In the ninth Tome of Baronius Annales there is an Epistle of Pope Gregory the second wherein hee declareth that it is not lawfull to paint out God the Father But Baronius a Postea usu venisse ut pingatur in Ecclesia Deus c. noteth in the margent that the Church now hath ordained of it otherwise Six hundred and thirty Bishops decreed at the Councell of Chalcedone that the Bishop of Constantinople should be equall in all things to the Bishop of Rome The Milevitan Councell where Saint Austin was present and framed the Canons of it forbiddeth upon paint of a curse to appeale beyond the Sea that is to say to appeale out of Africk to Rome The sixth Councell of Carthage confirmeth the same prohibition and writeth to Celestin Bishop of Rome long Letters which are inserted in the Councel wherein the Councel warnes him to take heed henceforth from receiving any appeales out of Africk and not to send them his Legats any more not make use any more of supposed Canons for to advance his authority and not to bring in worldly pride into the Church In all these things and in a thousand others more the Roman Church condemneth the Fathers and maketh no reckoning of their authority Whence appeareth that it is to no purpose that our Adversaries in certaine questions alledge the Fathers unto us seeing themselves reject them and subject them to the Judgement of the Pope and Church of Rome CHAP XXV Of the corruption and falsification of the Fathers writings and of the difficultie to understand them IN the Allegation of Fathers about our Controversies we have this disadvantage that we have them but by the hands of our owne Adversaries For all the impressions that have been made of them were made upon the Manuscripts found in Monasteries written by Monkes who had faire opportunitie to clip and alter them at their pleasure and set old titles upon new Bookes made and composed by themselves It is a hard case to one of the parties that goes to Law when he can make use of no other writings but of such as his owne Adverse party furnisheth him with who hath thrusted in such clauses as seemed good unto him But it is come to passe through the Providence of God that the most part of these falsifications are so grosse and so palpable that we have not