of the Kings and Queens inclination as he presumeth and of the great Authority of Cranmer Cromwell and some other that he calleth his Gospellers or Patrons rather of his Gospel And yet if you behold the external Face of the English Church at this day all these named and others held the Catholic Faith Use and Rites and both King and Queen Cranmer and Cromwell went as Devoutly to Mass as ever before and so remained they in outward shew I mean the former three even to their Deaths And Cromwell when he was to die protested on the Scaffold that he was a good Catholic Man and never doubted of any of the Church Sacraments then used and the like would Cranmer have done no doubt if he had been brought to the Scaffold in King Henries days as he was to the Fire afterwards in Queen Maries which had been a happy case for him 9. There ensued the year 1534 which was the year indeed of open breach with Rome for that an Excommunication being set forth by Pope Clement VII against King Henry VIII upon notice given of his Marriage and the said Excommunication set up in Dunkirk and other Towns in Flanders which did import the consent also and concurrence of Charles the Emperour and then certain Prophesies being blown about at home as coming from Elizabeth Barton sirnamed the holy Maid of Kent about the King's Deprivation he was much more exasperated than before and so calling a Parliament caused the Pope's Authority to be wholly extinguished and transferred to himself and made divers Bishops in order to preach at Paul's Cross against the Pope's Supremacy over the Catholic Church But what may we think that these Bishops did in so small a time change their belief in matters of Faith The King also being angry with divers Friars as namely with F. Elstow beforenamed that contradicted Cutwyne the Preacher when he inveighed against the Pope's Authority did this year upon the 11th of August ordain That all the observant Friars of St. Francis's Order should be thrust out of their Convents beginning with Greenwich where the said contradiction was made and to seem somewhat to favour the Augustin-Friars of whose Order Luther had been he commanded them for the present to be put in their places yet did he at the very same time cause John Frith to be burn'd in Smithfield for denying the Blessed Sacrament and this by his own particular order which Frith and his Master Tyndal were the greatest Enemies that Friars had 10. He burned also this year Henry Poyle William Tracy and other Protestants as Fox testifieth in his Calendar So as we may see that the King's Faith was as before and tho' he were content to suffer some new-fangl'd Spirits to ruffle at this time as namely Friar Barnes in London where he preach'd most seditiously and Hugh Latimer in Bristol where as Stow saith he stirred a notorious Tumult causing the Mayor to suffer Lay men to preach and to prohibit and imprison Priests and other like Disorders yet what the King thought inwardly of them he declared afterwards by his acts when he burned Barns and cast Latimer into the Tower and kept him there with evident danger of his life so long as himself lived which disposition of King Henry Tyndal smelling at the same season wrote from Flanders to his Scholar John Frith Prisoner in the Tower of London in these words And now methinketh I smell a counsel to be taken c. But you must understand that it is not of a pure heart and the love of Truth but to avenge themselves and to eat the Whores flesh and to suck the marrow of her bones c. So wrote that honest man signifying that King Henry was resolved to make an outward shew in favouring the Gospellers not for love or liking he had of them but to revenge himself of the Pope and to enjoy the Goods of Monasteries and other spiritual Livings which he in his blasphemous heretical vein calleth the Whores flesh and marrow of her bones 11. Well then this was the beginning of their Gospel in England by their own Confession and Interpretation and so whatsoever was done from this year forward against Catholics or Catholic Religion unto the 31st year of his Reign which was of Christ 1540 to wit for five whole years was upon these grounds and to the former ends of Revenge and Interest if we believe Protestants themselves in which point notwithstanding for that divers Godly Learned and Zealous men could not be content to follow the King's affections as others did and namely Bishop Fisher of Rochester Sir Thomas More late Chancellor of England and divers most Reverend and Venerable Abbots Priors and Doctors and other their like they were content to give their Blood in defence of Catholic Unity against this Schism as the Abbots of Glastenbury of Whaley of Reading Dr. Forest Queen Catharine's Confessor Dr. Powel and the like 12. Some others and amongst them one most near to the King himself both in Blood and Affection namely Cardinal Pool opposed himself by public Writing from Padua as we may see by those three learned Books left by him in Latin De Unitate Ecclesiae Others also of the same Blood-Royal as the Marquess of Exceter and Countess of Salisbury the said Cardinal's Mother shewed their dislike which afterwards was the cause of their ruin and many Shires also of the Realm at this time not being so patient as to bear these Innovations took Arms and fell into great Commotions as in Lincolnshire Yorkshire Somersetshire and some other Provinces making all their Quarrels for matters of Religion 13. So as by this we see that Catholic Religion remained still in England both in Prince and People but that the Prince for a time thought good for other ends to tolerate and wink at disorders therein until the aforesaid year of 1540 when calling all his Realm together both Spiritual and Temporal to examin well this matter of Religion they decreed that famous Statute both in Parliament and Consistory Ecclesiastical called the Statute of six Articles or as John Fox nameth it the whip with six strings or lashes in which Decree are condemned for detestable Heresies all the most substantial points of Protestants Doctrin especially of Zwinglians and Calvinists and most severe punishment of Death appointed unto the Defenders and Maintainers thereof whereby the Catholic Judgment and Censure of the whole Realm in that behalf was seen and the King himself made further declaration thereof presently for his own part by putting away his German Wife Anne of Cleve by which the Gospellers had thought to have drawn him further into League and Religion with the Protestant German Princes and by punishing Cromwell the Head and Fountain of most of these Innovations by the loss of his Head. He burned also immediately after this Statute in Smithfield upon the promulgation thereof three famous Heretics Barns Jerom and Gerard
pious Princes and Lords Egfrid King of the Northumbers Anno 10. upon the fifteenth day before the Calends of October the eighth Indiction and Etheldred reigning over the Mercians the sixth year of his Reign and Adulphus being King of the East-Angles the seventeenth year of his Reign and Lodtharius being King of Kent in the seventh year of his Reign and Theodorus by the Grace of God Archbishop of the Isle of Britanny and of the City of Canterbury being President of the Synod together with the rest of the Bishops of the same Island venerable men sitting with him in Council and the holy Sacred Gospel being laid before them in a place called in the Saxon Tongue Hedtfield after treaty had they expounded the right Catholic Faith in this manner 24. Sicut Dominus noster Jesus c. As our Lord Jesus taking our flesh upon him did deliver unto his Disciples that saw him in person and heard his speeches and as the Symbolum or Creed of the holy Fathers have delivered unto us and as generally all whole and universal Synods and all the company of holy Fathers and Doctors of the holy Catholic Church have taught us so do We following their steps both Piously and Catholicly according to their Doctrin inspired to them from Heaven profess and believe and constantly confess according to the said holy Fathers Belief That the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are properly and truly a consubstantial Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity c. We receive also the holy and universal five Synods that have been held before our time by the blessed Christian Fathers our Ancestors to wit those 318 holy Bishops in the first Council of Nice against Arius and his wicked Doctrin and of the 150 other Bishops in the first Council of Constantinople against the Heresie of Macedonius and of the 200 Godly Bishops of the Council of Ephesus against Nestorius and his Errors and of the 230 Bishops in the Council of Calcedon against Eutyches and his Doctrin and of the other 165 Fathers gathered together in the second General Council of Constantinople against divers Heretics and Heresies c. We do receive all these Councils and we do glorifie our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified him adding nothing nor taking any thing away We do anathematize and accurse also both by heart and mouth all those whom these Fathers did anathematize and accurse and we do receive them whom they received c. 25. Behold here the manner and form of Catholic Councils of old time who laid down first the Gospel in the midst and then after due examination of Scriptures considered that Antiquity of Fathers and Councils had determined in God's Church before them even from Christ and his Apostles downward and therein insisted agreeing all in one and rejecting and accursing all new contrary or different Doctrins and Doctors and by his means and by the assistance of the Holy Ghost promised by Christ unto his Church hath she continued now for 1600 years one and the self-same whereas Sectaries lacking this Humility Wisdom and Subordination but especially God's Grace are divided and consumed among themselves 26. But I will pass no further in this point this which I have said being sufficient to shew that there were more Learned men in England in these times of our primitive Church than fantastical Fox would have men believe which is greatly confirmed by that which Malmsbury writeth and Fox also confesseth the same That a General Council being gathered soon after this which we have mentioned in Constantinople both of the East and West Church against the Monothelites that deny'd two distinct Wills of Christ our Archbishop Theodorus with some other Learned men of our English Clergy was called for by Pope Agatho to be one of his Legats in the said Council where there were 331 Bishops gathered together by order of the said Agatho Bishop of Rome against the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Constantinople which thing sheweth the great Power and Authority of the Bishop of Rome even in Greece it self at that day the Emperour Constantine IV. being present himself 27. And to this Council as is said was the foresaid Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury with divers other Bishops called by name by Pope Agatho as we may see in his Letter to the said Council cited by Malmsbury in these words Sperabamus de Britannia Theodorum c. We did hope to have had from Britanny Theodore my Brother and Fellow-Bishop and Archbishop of that great Island and a Philosopher together with others which hitherto do remain there and then to have joined them to our Humility and for this cause we have hitherto deferred the Council Vides quanti eum fecerit saith Malmsbury ut ejus expectatione Universale Concilium differret You see of what account this Archbishop was with Pope Agatho that he would defer a General Council for his expectation Thus writeth he whereby every indifferent man will easily see that this time of our primitive English Church which Fox by contempt so often calleth Ignorant and Monkish was not devoid of rare Learned men and so hath continued until our days frustrà circumlatrantibus haereticis to use St. Augustin's words Heretics in vain barking on every side against it With whom John Fox thought good to bear a barking part also and not being able to find out any one hole or corner for his Church in those Ages except only among the Heretics before named he thought good at least to rail and spit at them as he passeth by and so will he do more and more the lower he goeth until at length he fall to plain Apostasie and forsaking them openly will join with the known condemned Heretics and Enemies of this Church which Church hitherto notwithstanding he will seem in some sort to follow tho' lazily and dragging behind and as it were weary of her Company and looking about him which way he may give the slip and betake himself to his heels as will better appear by that which ensueth CHAP. V. The fourth station or division of Times from King Egbert unto William the Conqueror containing the space of some 260 years and how John Fox his Church passed in these days and whether there were any Pope Joan or no. YOu have heard before how John Fox in his second Book promising to handle but 300 years touched in the Acts of 500 in less than a dozen Leaves shewing the small store of matter he had for his Church in those Ages Now his next Book is entituled thus The third Book containing the next 300 years from the Reign of Egbert unto the time of William the Conqueror So is his Title And yet if you count the years from the beginning of King Egbert his Reign Anno Domini 802 according to Stow or 800 according to others unto the entrance of the Conqueror Anno 1066 you shall find but only 264 years and
race and course of the Church c. yet hath the whole Book but seventeen Leaves in all which is little more than one Leaf to every twenty years race and course of the whole Church And surely he that so courseth over an Ecclesiastical History may be called rather a Courser indeed than an Historiographer 9. Nay further he is so envious to the famous Acts of our English Church in these days especially with Foreign Nations as he either concealeth utterly the same or maketh reproachful mention thereof As for Example when he speaketh of the most Famous and Renowned Saint of our English Nation St. Wenfride called afterward Bonifacius and accounted by all Authors the Apostle of Germany for that he began principally their Conversion and was afterward most gloriously Martyred by the Pagans for preaching Christ's Gospel with above Fifty Fellows the most of them English-men Of this man I say how speaketh Fox You shall hear presently But first shall you see the words of a German Writer in his praise Primus omnium saith he qui Australes Germaniae partes c. The first of all that brought the Southern parts of Germany to the knowledge of Christian Religion from Idolatry was Wenfride an English man by Nation a true Philosopher of our Savior and after for his Vertue called Boniface and Archbishop of Moguntia And albeit some Authors do name some others that preached in sundry places before him yet this man as another Paul the Apostle did go before all in Labour of Preaching c. 10. So writeth Adam Bremensis a Saxon a Canon of the First and Head Church that was builded in Saxony after their Conversion by the preaching of English-men for so he sheweth in particular that English-men were their Converters but especially four most famous Learned Preachers and fervent Zeâ—lots in multiplying the Christian Faith to wit Willebrordus Willebaldus Willericus and Willehadus all which were renowned Apostolical Bishops in Germany Willebrord was sent over out of England with eleven Companions towards the Conversion of Germany by the holy Abbot St. Egbert as both St. Bede and other Authors after him do testifie and by Pope Sergius II. was made Bishop of Vltraiectum in Frisia and was the Apostle of that Country as also a principal Converter of the Kingdom of Denmark 11. Willebaldus was Bishop of Ayste in Saxony where he converted many thousands to Christian Faith and was canonized with universal joy of all that Country by Pope Leo VII in the year of Christ 1004 as Authors do recount 12 St. Willehad and St. Willerike were both Bishops of Breme in Saxony Post Passionem Sancti Bonifacii saith our foresaid German Author Willehadus ipse Angligena fervens amore Martyrii properavit in Frisiam c. After the Passion of St. Boniface St. Willehad an English-man also burning with the love of Martyrdom made hast also to come into Frisia where the other was Martyred c. And then sheweth he how this blessed man after the Conversion of many Thousands was sent by the Emperour Charles the Great to preach to the Northern Parts of Saxony which he did with great fervour till Windekind a Pagan Tyrant of that Country moving War against Charles drove him out upon which occasion he retired himself to a contemplative Life for two years together in France until after he was called out again by the said Charles to be Bishop of Breme in which Charge he both lived and died most holily 13. And next to him succeeded one of his Disciples Willericus and led an Apostolical Life in the same Charge for the space of 50 years together as Adam Bremensis Erpoldus Lindenbrughensis and others do testifie These Mens Acts then and other such-like had been fit matter for John Fox to have handled in his Ecclesiastical History of these Ages especially if he could have shewed that any one of these that wrought so infinite Miracles both alive and dead as the former Authors do testifie had been of his Religion But Fox doth pass over all with silence I mean both Them and their Actions but only that he taketh occasion to speak contemptuously of the first and Father of the rest St. Boniface For having spoken of the latter Synod of those two which we mentioned in the former Chapter to have been held in England by Theodorus and S. Cuthbert Archbishops of Canterbury he writeth thus Cuthbert the Archbishop of Canterbury sent the Copy of the Synod to Boniface otherwise named Winfride an English man then Archbishop of Mentz and after made a Martyr as the Popish Stories term him 14. Behold John Fox scarce counteth him a Martyr tho' he were put to death by Pagans for preaching Christian Faith. And a little after meaning to put down a certain Godly Epistle of the said Boniface or Wenfride written to Ethelbald King of the Mercians reprehending him for his licentious Life Fox writeth thus I thought this Epistle not unworthy here to be inserted not so much for the Authors sake as for that some good matter peradventure may be picked thereout for other Princes to behold and consider c. 15. Here now you see the Estimation and Affection of John Fox to Boniface of whom the Christian World of those Times both thought and spoke so reverendly for so many Ages But let us hear what John Bale will say for he being an Apostata will be more contumelious I trow Winifridus Bonifacius saith he claro Anglorum sanguine Londini natus c. Winifrid called also Boniface was born at London of Noble English Blood and afterward went to Rome where Pope Gregory II. having try'd the Man's Faith and seen his Magnificence of Mind or rather his shameless Pride thought him a Fellow fit for his Affairs and so sent him with full Authority into Germany to a wild People as then they were called to force them to his Faith. Neither hath there been any man since the Birth of Christ that hath more properly expressed the second Beast in the Apocalypse with two Horns than he for that the Pope being the great Antichrist he was the second c. He did sign with the Pope's Character a hundred thousand men in Bavaria only adjoyning them to the Kingdom of Antichrist rather by Fear than by pious Doctrin c. He built the Monastery of Fulda where no Woman might enter c. 16. Still you see one quarrel of John Bale against Monks is for shutting out Women from their Monasteries which as it was holily instituted and observed by ancient Monks so if it had been well kept in his Monastery of Norwich it may be he had continued a Monk as he began and never come acquainted with Dorothy that drew him out from thence as himself confesseth But is there any wicked tongue in the world that can speak more impiously than this Fellow doth of so rare an Apostolic Man and of his Actions yea of
missus est Augustinus à beato Gregorio c. In the mean space was sent into Britanny Augustin by Blessed Gregory to preach to English-men the Word of God who were yet blind in Pagan Superstition c. Though among the Britans that Christianity was yet in force which being received from the time of Eleutherius the Pope had never failed until that day c. Among whom there was an Abbot of Bangor named Dinoot that had above 2000 Monks under his charge who answered to Augustin when he requir'd Subjection of the British Bishops and that they would joyn with him to convert the English Nation That the Britans owed no Subjection unto him nor would bestow the labour of Preaching upon their Enemies seeing the Britans had an Archbishop of their own and that the Saxons took from them their Country for which cause they hated them extremely nor did not esteem their Religion nor would communicate with them more than with Dogs 14. Lo here all that is to be found in Geffry of Monmouth to this purpose which is nothing else as you see but a passionate and choleric Answer of the Britans as of men afflicted and exasperated Here is no one word of their not acknowledging the Popes Supremacy as the Magdeburgians write but only that they acknowledged not the Superiority of Augustin over the Britans seeing he was only sent to the English and that the Authority of their own Archbishop was not taken away by his coming for any thing they yet knew but remained as before Which question of Jurisdiction between two Archbishops falleth out daily even where the Pope's Authority is acknowledged and so we see that it is a manifest Lie which the Magdeburgians affirm so resolutely That the Britans would not acknowledge any Primacy of the Bishop of Rome over them For they speak as you see of Augustin's Authority and not of the Bishop of Rome from whom we read not that he had yet shewed to them any Authority to place him over their Archbishop and consequently it is a vain and malicious Inference which the Magdeburgians here do make out of this Answer of the Britans if it had been true that forasmuch as they admitted not St. Augustin's Authority they acknowledged not the Primacy of Rome and that this again was a clear sign that Religion was not planted in Britanny by the Romans 15. For how clear is this I pray you or how hangeth this together might not this Error of not acknowledging the Power of the Roman See if it had been among them have crept in after the first planting of Christian Faith Will these Germans or Sir Francis or Fox their Scholars deny that Ravennae in Italy for Example was converted by St. Apollinaris sent thither from St. Peter for that afterwards the Bishops of that place for many years waxing proud and presumptuous upon the presence and Court of the Exarchs and Vice-Roys of the Emperours residing amongst them did refuse to yield to the Bishops of Rome Or for that England at this day by Error of Protestant Religion refuseth to acknowledge any Subjection in Spiritual Affairs to Rome will our men deny that the English Nation was ever converted to Christian Faith from Rome Who seeth not the impertinency of this kind of Argument And yet with such-like kind of Arguments and Inferences these absurd People do deceive the World. 16. But the last point of these Germans Assertion about Pope Innocentius I. is a most egregious Impudency to say of so holy a Father so highly commended by St. Augustin and other Fathers that lived with him and after him That he spake of Vain-glory and desire of Temporal Power when he wrote above 1200 years agone That all the West-Churches and the British amongst the rest were founded by St. Peter or his Disciples and Successors And let any indifferent or prudent Reader in the World consider of what weight these words of the Germans may be when having said That albeit Innocentius I. wrote so yet we judge that to have been spoken of Vain-glory c. A proud Censure of so great a man by three or four poor Companions that wrote Books for their Bread and begg'd the same commonly of every Prince to whom they dedicated their several Centuries That so contemptible People I say should presume to touch the Honor and Truth of so great and worthy a Saint and Father as was holy Innocentius so called commonly by St. Augustin St Hierom St. Basil Orosius and others and whom all the rest of the World together with these men admired and respected in his Life for such Sancti Innocentii saith St. Hierom to the Virgin Demetriades qui Apostolicae Cathedrae beat ae memoriae Anastasii successor filius est tene as fidem nec pergrinam quamvis prudens callidáque videaris doctrinam recipias Hold the Faith of holy Innocentius which is the Successor and Son in the Seat of St. Peter's Chair of Anastasius of blessed Memory that went before him and do not admit any new or foreign Doctrin though thou maist seem perhaps wise and subtle to thy self 17. Thus wrote St. Hierom which is another manner of Judgment of Innocentius both for his Holiness of Life and Authority of Place to direct men in Religion than the Magdeburgians give who would make him Vain-glorious But thus they use all ancient Fathers that are against them And so much for this Chapter CHAP. III. The former Controversie is more particularly handled how the Grecian Custom of celebrating Easter-day after the Fashion of the Jews came first into the British and Scottish Church and how untruly and wickedly John Fox and John Bale do behave themselves about this matter BUT now let us return if you please to speak a word or two more of the entrance of the foresaid Custom of celebrating Easter with the Jews into Britanny to wit how and about what time or upon what occasion it is probable that it entred Wherein first it seemeth most certain that it could not be brought in by the first Preachers of Christian Religion to John Fox and Sir Francis and the Magdeburgians would have men believe And this is proved as well by the Reasons and Authorities alleged before to shew that the first Preachers in Britanny either came from Rome or preached Roman Doctrin as also by the Reasons following First for that if Damianus and other Preachers sent into Britanny by Pope Reason I Eleutherius to instruct King Lucius and the rest in Christian Faith about the year 180 had found any such Custom there contrary to the Roman Use from whence they were sent they would have removed the same or at least wise have made some mention thereof forsomuch as at that time the contrary Custom of celebrating Easter upon the Sunday was public in the Use of the Roman Church and Pope Pius I. had made a Decree for confirming the same against the Asian Use about 40 years
before their going into Britanny to wit in the year 144 as Eusebius testifieth Reason II 3. Secondly St. Bede declaring in many places of his Works the Contention that was in Britanny about this Point as well between St. Augustin and the British Bishops as between St. Laurentius and others his Successors with the Irish and Scottish Nation he sheweth in his second Book what Letters Honorius the Pope about the year of Christ 635 as also Pope John IV. some few years after wrote to the said Nations about this Error Pro eodem errore corrigendo satth St. Bede literas eis magna Auctoritate atque Eruditione plenas direxit The Pope wrote them Letters full of Authority and Learning for the correcting this Error And then Beda addeth further That Pope John in the beginning of his Epistle declared manifestly that this Heresie was sprung up among them very lately nuperrimè temporibus istis exortam esse haeresim hanc that this Heresie was sprung up very lately in those days And that not the whole Irish and Scottish Nations but some of them only were infected therewith so as this was never universally received among them nor begun by Antiquity Reason III 4. The third Reason is for that St. German and his Fellows going twice into Britanny almost 200 years before this time mentioned to resist the Pelagian Heresie never made mention of this other Heresie of Quartadecimani or of Paschatitae for so they were called as after shall be shewed which yet was condemned for an Heresie more than 200 years before that again to wit under Pope Victor as hath been said and so held in all Ages after especially after the Council of Nice had reproved the same and allowed of the Roman Catholic Use as not only St. Beda in the place before alledged out of the words of St. Wilfrid doth testifie but the same also appeareth by the Emperor Constantine's own Letters registred by Eusebius in his Life All which being so it is more than probable that St. German would have said or written somewhat of so great a Controversie if he had found the contrary Use in practise among the Britans in his days Reason IV 5. A fourth Reason may be the Testimony of Florentinus Vigorniensis who writeth in the year 628 of his Chronicle Eo tempore errorem Quartadecimanorum in observatione Paschatis apud Scotos exortum Honorius Papa redarguit c. At that time Honorius the Pope did reprove the Error of the Quartadecimans in celebrating Easter sprung up among the Scottish-men Thus wrote he upon the point of 500 years past whereby it is evident that he held not this Custom to have come into Britanny with the first Preachers of Christianity Reason V 6. Finally it appeareth by St. Bede That a Synod or Council was gathered of purpose in Northumberland about this matter in time of our English Primitive Church in the year of Christ 664 and the 22d of the Reign of King Oswyn who was there present with King Egfride his Son. The chief Disputers in this Council on the Scots behalf for the Eastern Custom was one Colman an Abbot first and after Bishop of Lindisferne together with Bishop Cedda and some others But in defence of the Roman Use were Agilbertus Bishop of the West-Saxons and Wilfride an Abbot of Northumberland afterward Archbishop of all the Kingdom of Northumbers Vir doctissimus c. a most Learned Man as St. Bede calleth him who had studied both in Italy and France c. 7. The Question was handled about the Antiquity as hath been said of both Uses and Customs but especially of that of the East among the Scots and British And albeit that B. Colman did allege the Tradition of Asia from St. John the Evangelist downward as also the Writing of one Anatolius a Learned Asian Bishop that had written thereof almost 200 years before yet for the Antiquity thereof among the Scots and British Nation he alleged no greater Continuance than from the Abbot Columba who lived not full 70 years before that day for that he died as John Bale testifieth in the year of Christ 598. Nunquid Reverendissimum Patrem nostrum Columbam saith B. Colman Successores ejus viros Deo dilectos qui eodem modo Pascha fecerunt divinis Paginis contraria sapuisse vel egisse credendum est Shall we think that our most Reverend Father Columba and his Successors being men so beloved of God as they were did understand or do contrary to holy Scriptures in celebrating Easter as we do now c. 8. Whereunto St. Wilfrid answered both learnedly and piously That this Error might be tollerable in them that lived so distant from the See-Apostolic in a Corner of the World so long as it was held without Obstinacy they being perhaps pious men that at the beginning brought it in from the East-parts and continued the same upon simplicity delighted with the facility thereof and not understanding so easily the Catholic Roman Calculation which had many great difficulties as after shall appear Simplicitate rustica saith he sed intentione pia c. ad quos Catholicus Calculator non advenerat By a rude kind of simplicity but Godly intention they erred c. no learned Catholic Calculator of Times and Days having yet come to them Of which point of Calculation we shall speak somewhat more presently after 9. But yet here now we see by this Disputation and Conference of that Synod That B. Colman himself did not ascribe the beginning of this Custom unto the first Preachers of Ireland and Scotland nor yet unto St. Palladius nor Patritius their known Apostles that 200 years before that time were sent by Pope Celestinus to convert both Nations in the year 430 and 432 as all Authors do agree And consequently it is most probable to be true that which Pope John IV. before-named writeth unto Thomianus Chromanus and other Scottish Bishops and to their whole Clergy That this Custom of celebrating Easter upon the Full Moon of March was begun but of late among them I mean among the Scots dwelling in Ireland and in the Islands near about for that of them principally St. Bede professeth himself to speak And thereby insinuateth that by them also the same was imparted with the Picts and Britans and other Scots that lived in the Isle of Britanny And by this the Reader may see how good an Argument it is which the Magdeburgians and John Fox do use and urge so much to wit That forsomuch as this Greek or Asian Custom of celebrating Easter with the Jews was found among the Scots and some Britans in St. Bede's time and afterward Ergo It is likely that the first Preachers of Britanny came not from Rome neither were of the Roman Religion but rather of the East-parts of which Sequel I have shewed the Absurdity before in the precedent Chapter 10. But now perhaps you will ask me How and when
Anselmus and so successively one after another none of them ever being noted to be contrary to his Predecessor in Religion until Thomas Cranmer in King Henry the Eighth's time Who applyed himself to the Religion which the State and Prince liked best to allow of in that time And after the Kings Death agreed to break his last Will and Testament in changing that Religion into Zuinglianism most detested by his Majesty And after again Conspired to put down and destroy all the Kings Children and to set up the Duke of Suffolks Daughter And finally was put to Death both for Heresie and Treason in Queen Maries time as after more particularly shall be shewed And this was the first change of Religion in any Arch-bishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days 28. So as from King Ethelbert the first Christned English King unto King Henry the Eighth being the Eighteenth from William the Conqueror and more than Eighty from the said Ethelbert one and the self same Faith endured in England and the self same Church florished under so many different both Kings and Nations as before hath been shewed And the like we have declared to have been for the first 600 years under the Britans to wit that they never were known to have changed their Religion Which being so the deduction and demonstration is so clear as any reasonable Man can either make or require for proof that one and the self same Religion endured from the beginning to the ending among them 29. Unto which kind of proof the Ancient Holy Father and Martyr St. Irenaeus giveth great Authority by a like Argument For that having made the like Enumeration of the Bishops of Rome as we do now of our Arch-bishops of Canterbury against the Heretics of his days and that from St. Peter downward to Pope Eleutherius that lived with him he inferreth this conclusion Est plenissima haec ostensio unam eandem vivificatricem fidem esse quae in Ecclesiis ab Apostolis conservata tradita in unitate c. This is a most full proof that one and the self same lively Faith hath been conserved in the Church from the Apostles days unto our time delivered from one to another in unity c. And if that were a most full proof and demonstration in St. Irenaeus judgment against the Heretics of his time The same is now much more to us having seen the Succession of so many Ages since and noted the manner of like proof and Argument in all other Fathers after him As namely of St. Augustin Numerate sacerdotes velab ipsa Petri Sede in ordine illo Patrum quis cui successit videte Number the Priests that have succeeded the one to the other even from the Seat of Peter himself And then further In hoc ordine Successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur No one Donatist Bishop is to be found in this rank of Succession And yet more 30. Et si in illum ordinem Episcoporum quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae And if any Traytor in those days should have crept into that order and rank of Roman Bishops for of them he speaketh it should not have prejudicated the Church of God. 31. Which saying of St. Austin may serve us not only to Answer whatsoever Heretics do or may object true or false against the Lives of any latter Roman Bishops but for defence also of the Rank and Succession of our Archbishops of Canterbury notwithstanding the Apostasie of Thomas Cranmer or any other his like that for these latter years may have crept in as St. Austin saith or been thrust in and by violence occupied that See and Seat unworthily either in respect of his life or Religion or both seeing that the former Succession as well of Men as of Doctrin from St. Austin to Cranmer is manifest and evident for the space of 900 years without interruption as also that they were united all this time in Faith and Doctrin with the Universal Church of Christendom as Members and Branches of their Head and Body and that the first breach and interruption made thereof in that See by Cranmer and continued after him by some of his followers was noted presently and contradicted yea censured and condemned also by Sentence of the whole Church and thereupon rejected and abhorred by the principal of his own people both Clergy and Laity at that time 32. And the same contradiction endureth to this day and will do ever in those that conserve their Ancient Faith and Religion and do adhere to the lawful Succession of his Predecessors against him and his partners until it please Almighty God to put the said order and lawful Succession in joynt again and restore that chief and head conduct of our Country to his former integrity whereby the Water of true Catholic Religion was wont to be derived to the people of our Land and will be again when Gods wrath for our sins shall be pacified and his mercy induce him to permit as often otherwise he hath done that all return to the accustomed Ancient course of Catholic Faith and Religion again seeing in very deed there is none but that for so much as Sects and new Religions are but inventions and entertainments of time whilst God punisheth some sins in his Servants and after all returneth where it was before 33. And this have we spoken by the way and by occasion of Cranmer that was the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury that ever brake from the Roman Faith but notwithstanding his Apostasie Catholic Religion was not extinguished in England by that but remained there still all King Henries time as also during the Reigns of his three Children King and Queens Edward Mary and Elizabeth unto these our days as in the next Chapter following more largly and particularly we are to demonstrate CHAP. XII How Catholic Religion hath continued and persevered in England during the times and Reigns of King Henry the Eighth and his three Children King Edward Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all the troubles changes alterations and tribulations that have fallen out and that the same Religion is like to continue to the Worlds end if our sins hinder not THE deduction which we have hitherto made of Catholic Religion from our first Conversion under St. Gregory and King Ethelbert of Kent unto the Reign of King Henry the Eighth with whom concurred in the See of Rome Leo the Tenth and Clemens the Seventh and other Popes Successors of St. Gregory hath been for the most part in time of Peace and without any public discontinuance at all but now are we to prosecute the same matter from the alteration made by King Henry downward unto our days and therein to shew that albeit in the external Face and Form of Religion there have been divers Mutations as Tempestuous Winds and Storms for the present yet hath the Catholic
be altered it must be done by the same Authority by which it was delivered to them to wit by the whole Church Councils and General Pastors thereof 26. This was the Defence and Pleading of Catholics under King Henry the Eighth to excuse themselves from Treason objected against them for holding the Popes Supremacy wherein you see divers notorious differences between the Defence of the Sectaries and them for that amongst the Sectaries every one held what himself thought best of things invented by themselves every one cited Scriptures and interpreted them as he listed without Authority President or Example of former Ages and consequently they are justly called Heretics that is to say choosers For that they chose to themselves what to believe in every Sect and reduced the last and final resolution of all things to their own Wills and Wits which in matters of belief is the highest Crime that against God and his Church can be committed 27. But on the other side the state and condition of the Catholics and their cause is quite opposite to this for that they stick to Authority Obedience Integrity Example of their Ancestors they bring nothing of their own they invent or innovate nothing They stand only upon that which they have found Established to them not by this or that Man or by this or that Author of any Sect or by this or that particular Congregation fellowship or Faction or by this or that Town City Province Kingdom or Country but generally by the whole universal Church and Pastors thereof and therefore properly and truly are called Catholics which is to say Vniversal and general 28. And this shall suffice to shew the difference between the Catholic Martyrs and Heretical Malefactors put to death in King Henries time whereof yet we shall Treat more largely in the third part of this Treatise where we are to handle the particular Stories of Fox his Calendar-Martyrs and to compare and paralell them with ours shewing that yet never Dogs and Cats nor yet Sampsons Foxes did ever so disagree in natures and conditions as these good Martyrs did in Faction and contrariety of opinions amongst themselves and consequently could not be Martyrs or witnesses of any one Faith whatsoever 29. And with this also will we end the Discourse of King Henries Life having sufficiently shewed as to me it seemeth that the Catholic Religion held her footing and continuance also under ther Reign of this King no less perhaps than before yea she shewed her self much more to the World by the Persecution which then she suffered than before in the time of peace for that the Famous and Illustrious Martyrdoms of such excellent Men as were Bishop Fisher Sir Thomas More Dr. Forest and many other such Worthies that suffered Martyrdom in those days did more Illustrate her and made extern Nations to talk more of the Zeal and Constancy of English Catholics than ever they would have done if that Persecution had not fallen out and the like success hath happened since both under King Edward the Sixth and her Majesty that now is as briefly we shall here declare 30. And as for King Edwards Reign as it was but short and the first passage from Catholic Religion to open Profession of Heresie So was it not so sharp for effusion of Blood as under King Henry For that the King being very young and those that Governed in his Name not thorowly settled in their States and Affairs troubled also with much Division and Emulation among themselves could not attend to prosecute matters so exactly against Catholics as some of their desires and Appetites were yet began they very well as we may see by the most unjust Persecutions and Deprivations of two principal Bishops Gardiner of Winchester and Bonner of London by such violent Calumnious manner as was proper for Heretics to use The particulars whereof John Fox doth set down at large whereby a Man may take a taste what they meant to have done if they had had time For that Cranmer and Ridley that had been Bishops in King Henries time and followed his Religion and humor while he lived being now also resolved to enjoy the Preferment and Sensuality of this time so far as any way they might attain unto getting Authority into their hands by the Protector and others that were in most Power began to lay lustily about them and to pull down all them both of the Clergy and others whom they thought to be able or likely to stand in their way or resist their inventions 31. And hereupon divers were laid hands on and Imprisoned divers fled over Seas sundry most Captious and Calumnious Questions and Demands were devised to entangle Men As Namely Whether a King of one year old were not as truly a King as at Forty or Fifty which if you did grant concerning the Title and Right of his Crown which is true then presently they inferred that King Edward being but Nine years old wanting yet discretion might also be lawful Head of the Church and determine Controversies of Religion yea change the Faith and Religion which his Father and all his Ancestors Kings and Princes of England all Parliaments Synods and Councils before his days had left unto him for the space of a Thousand years and more And albeit he had not sufficient judgment to understand what Religion meant yet was he made judge thereof by vertue of his Birth and Succession to the Crown And this Point was wonderfully urged by the Protector Seymor to all Preachers Prelats and Bishops of that time that they should inculcate the same to the people in their Sermons to the end that himself taking all the said Child Kings Authority upon him might be Head and Judge in his place Whereunto that he might seem the more fit and able for his excellent learning John Bale the Apostata Friar that lived under him was not ashamed to Publish in Print and place him for a Learned Author amongst his Illustrious British Writters for that some Proclamations perhaps passed by his hands tho' otherwise he was known to be so unlearned as he could scarce Write or Read. 32. But yet as I said this Doctrin or rather Paradox of the Child Kings supereminent ability high Authority and Supreme Ecclesiastical Power to determin alter change and dispose of matters of Religion at his pleasure tho' he were but of one year old was sounded in Pulpits every where at this time whereof Sir John Cheke the Kings School-master amongst others Wrote a several Treatise besides the large Message sent in the Kings Name but of his Writing to the Catholic people of Devonshire as after shall be shewed The same also was objected grievously against Bishop Gardiner and Bishop Bonner by Name that they had not in their Sermons appointed unto them by the Protector so sufficiently urged this Point of the Kings Ecclesiastical Power in his Nonage as was required And this especially for that the people in
divers parts of the Realm and namely those of Devonshire seeing such alterations to be made in Religion under the Minority of a Child quite contrary to the Laws and Statutes left by King Henry the Eighth and that all things went backward both at home and abroad the Towns we had in France being lost or upon the point of losing they complained first and after took Arms for defence of their Ancient Religion in the beginning of the third year of this Kings Reign the people of Sommersetshire and Lincolnshire beginning first in the Month of May and then in July the people of Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Cornwall and Devonshire and in August those also of Yorkshire all crying and demanding to have the Catholic Religion remain as it was left by King Henry at least-wise until King Edward came to lawful age thereby to be able to determin and judge of matters of Religion which demand did wonderfully trouble and vex the Lord Seymour Protector and other new Gospellers who being hungry after Catholics Goods could abide no delay in making this desired Innovation 33. And albeit before these Insurrections fell out they did well see by divers attempts that the heart of the people was wholly against those their Innovations in Religion as appeareth plainly by a Speech of the Lord Rich then Chancellor to the Sheriffs and Justices of Peace of all Shires gathered together in London in the year 1548 being the second of King Edward's Reign as at large you may see in Fox yet such was their importunity in this behalf as they would needs go forward which thing pleasing John Fox well he writeth thus By this you may see what zealous care was in this young King and in the Lord Protector his Uncle concerning the Reformation of Christ's Church 34. The same Fox also setteth down in another place what the young King answered to the Devonshire-men that desir'd that the state of matters in Religion might remain as King Henry had ordained and left them and in particular they required that the Statute of Six Articles against Heretics might stand in force until King Edward came to full age Whereunto let us hear his Answer and consider thereby how matters went in those days To the first about the Statute of Six Articles made by his Father and inviolably kept all days of his life the little Child answered thus Know you what you require They were Laws made but quickly repented too bloody were they to be born of Our people You know they helped Vs to extend rigor and to draw Our Sword very often yea they were as a Whetstone unto Our Sword and for your Causes We have left to use them and sith Our mercy moved Vs to write Our Laws with Milk how be you blinded to ask them in Blood c 35. And then further he saith But to leave this manner of reasoning with you We let you wit That the same Laws have been annulled by Our Parliament with great rejoyce of Our Subjects and not now to be called by Our Subjects in question Dare any of you stand against an Act of Parliament c Assure you most surely that We of no earthly thing make such account as to have Our Laws obey'd for herein resteth Our Honor and shall any of you dare to breath against Our Honor c Lo how little account this little King Child was taught to make of his old Father's Laws and how thundringly to speak for the maintenance of his own But when they came to the second point about his Nonage he is yet more resolute for thus he writeth 36. In the end of your request saith he you would have Our Fathers Laws stand in force until Our full age But to this We think if ye knew what ye spake you would never have uttered that motion nor ever have given breath to such a thought For what think you of Our Kingdom Be We of less Authority for Our Age You must first know that as a King We have no difference of years nor time but as a natural Man and Creature of God We have Youth and by his sufferance shall have Age. We are your rightful King your leige Lord your King anointed your King crowned the sovereign King of England not by Our Age but by God's Ordinance We possess Our Crown not by Years but by the Blood and Descent from Our Father King Henry VIII c. 37. All this and much more did they make the innocent young King to talk and write in defence of their Innovations who had more Interest therein than He. And as for the Catholic People albeit they deny'd not but that he was a true King in his minority of Age yet no man was so foolish as to think notwithstanding all these preachings to the contrary but that it was a different thing for matters of Religion to be altered now in his Name than afterward by Himself when he should come to Age. 38. But among all others none urged this Argument so much nor with such Authority as the King 's eldest Sister the Princess Lady Mary Heir-apparent to the Crown who being a zealous Catholic and yet wishing well also to the Protector did by sundry Letters to be seen in Fox admonish both Him and the rest of the Council That they should look well what they did during the King's minority in altering the Will Laws and Ordinances of his and her Father King Henry for that afterward they were like enough to be called to account about the same when the King her Brother should come to full years Moreover she admonished them That they had no Authority to make such alteration in so great matters as they did but ought rather to conserve things in the state left unto them by King Henry her Father according as by solemn Oath they had sworn unto him before his death that they would do but especially about matters of Religion until the King her Brother came unto lawful Age. 39. By all which is clearly seen how the Catholic Religion remained in England most substantially rooted in King Edward's days and that Heresie entred only from the teeth outward and was maintained by violence of Temporal Authority and according to that was the success For after many toils and turmoils one killing another of those that governed when they thought they had laid a sure Platform to continue the same by excluding the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth and thrusting in Jane the Duke of Suffolk's Daughter after King Edward's death and had so plotted and fortified that Design as they thought it sure the only Zeal of the common Catholic People for the recovering the use of Catholic Religion again overthrew all and placed Queen Mary as is notorious to the World. And afterward if we consider the end of most of them which in those days being Counsellors for Ambition or other respects were promoters of Heresie as Dudley Pembroke Winchester
to divert these Prophesies from the true Antichrist and apply them to certain Bishops of Rome do beat their heads how to devise out some new Expositions of these numbers never heard or thought of before And namely John Fox more fondly than the rest will have the number of 42 Months to import 294 years that is every Month to signifie seven years or as fantastically he calleth it a Sabbath of Years For proof whereof having neither Authority nor any one Example of Scripture he confirmeth it by a Revelation of his own as after you shall hear 10. His device therefore is That the 1000 years wherein Sathan is said in the Ayocalypse to be ty'd up must begin as you see after the said 294 years of Heathen Persecution were ended So that the loosing out of Sathan against the Church again must fall in the year of Christ 1294 when Bonifacius VIII was chosen Pope or as the Monks Prophesie was upon the year 1260 when Antichrist was born Which is both contrary to that he said before that he was loosed about the year 900 as also that the Popes Gregory VII and Innocentius III. by Sathan's help no doubt overthrew the Church about the year of Christ 1080 or 1215 For if that Sathan was bound and not loosed until the year of Christ 1294 how could he overthrow the Church before 11. Wherefore all these new Interpretations of the words of the Apocalypse are but fantastical devices of wrangling Heretics seeing the ancient Fathers do interpret all these things far otherwise And first they put the binding up of Sathan for 1000 years there mentioned before the other number of 42 Months given to Antichrist to work his will and do say that the said loosing of Sathan began from the very Death and Passion of Christ when the power of Sathan was bound according to the saying of Christ himself in St. John's Gospel drawing near to his Passion Now the Prince of this World shall be cast forth And secondly they do interpret these 1000 Years not to signifie any certain time but generally to signifie all the whole course of time between the death of Christ and the coming of Antichrist three years and a half before the Day of Judgment according to the ordinary phrase of Scripture As for Example Quod mandavit Deus in mille generationes God hath commanded his Precept to be kept for a thousand Generations that is to say to the Worlds end and not for any certain time And again in Job If a Just man should contend with God he cannot answer him one for a thousand 12. This then is the ancient Interpretation of holy Doctors quite contrary to these new fancies of John Fox whose Expositions are both contrary to himself as in part you have seen and opposite to the words and sense of Scripture it self For whereas first these 42 Months importing by his Account 294 years were given to Sathan to work his will against the Saints of God the Scripture saith they were given to the Beast that is to say to Antichrist by the Dragon and not to the Dragon himself And secondly whereas he would needs have the 42 Months to signifie 294 years the Scriptures do expound them by 1260 days which make just three years and a half as hath been said 13. Thirdly Fox shall never find any place or example in Scripture where the word Month either in Greek or Latin doth signifie seven Days Weeks or Years as in Daniel the Greek word Hebdomada doth and may by its proper signification And yet is John Fox so fond and resolute in his device as all other proofs and probabilities failing him he will needs confirm it by a Revelation from God which he recounteth in these words following 14. Because the matter saith he being of no small importance greatly appertaineth unto the public utility of the Church and lest any should misdoubt me herein to follow any private Interpretations of my own I thought good to communicate to the Reader that which hath been imparted unto me in the opening of these Mystical Numbers in the foresaid Book of Revelation contained by occasion as followeth c. 15. As I was in hand with these Histories c. being vexed and turmoiled in spirit about the reckoning of these Numbers and Years it so happened upon a Sunday in the morning lying in my Bed and musing about these Numbers suddenly it was answered to my mind as with a majesty thus saying inwardly within me Thou Fool count these Months by Sabboths as the Weeks of Daniel are counted by Sabboths The Lord I take to witness thus it was Whereupon thus being admonished I began to reckon the 42 Months by Sabboths first of the Months and that would not serve and then by Sabboths of Years and then I began to feel some probable understanding Yet not satisfied herewith eftsoons I repaired to certain Merchants of my acquaintance of whom one is departed a true and faithful Servant of the Lord the other two yet alive and Witnesses hereof to whom the number of these foresaid Months being propounded and examined by Sabboths of Years the whole Sum was found to surmount to 294 years containing the full and just time of the foresaid Persecutions neither more nor less c. 16. And thus you have the Revelation made to John Fox which he saith that he relateth unto us for that we shall not misdoubt the truth thereof nor think that he followeth any private Interpretation of his own but that it came from God immediately And this is the first Dream of John Fox in his Bed. And the second ridiculous point is that he went to three Merchants to confer this Revelation and that they approved the same The third point is open Folly where he saith that this number of 294 containeth the full and just time of the first Persecution of Christians under Pagan Emperours neither more nor less which before hath been confuted and is evident in it self seeing that from Christ to the Victory of Constantine against Maxentius there are assigned by Eusebius 318 years and yet did not this Persecution of Christians cease then neither but continued under Licinius and other Tyrants for divers years after See then how just these Numbers fall out neither more nor less All which being considered I find no one thing so true or credible in all this Revelation as those words of the Spirit unto him saying Thou Fool for that this maketh him a Fool indeed by Revelation And so much of him and of this whole matter of binding and loosing Sathan and Reign of Antichrist Now let us return to the continuation of our Conference with John Fox about his Church 17. The deduction of the Catholic Roman Church from William the Conqueror downward unto John Wickliff's time is no less easie and clear but rather more than the former deduction from Christ to the Conquest for that the Church was now more spread and
wrong Cause 32. How large a Treatise Fox maketh of St. Thomas Becket and his contention with King Henry II. and how shamefully he doth bely and revile him every-where hath been shewed sufficiently before in my Answer to Sir Francis Hastings as also of the Fable of the poysoning of K. John. And as for the Histories the Waldenses Albigenses whom he meaneth to lay for the first Foundations of his visible Church upon Earth he handleth matters so falsly and partially contrary to the testimony of all Antiquity as a man may easily see that the whole contexture of his Story is nothing else but a perpetual woven thread of wilful and malicious Falshoods and for that I shall have occasion to speak again of these Heretics in the next Chapter wherein we have to handle the Succession of John Fox his visible Protestant Church from Wickliff downward I shall say no more thereof here but remit me to that which ensueth CHAP. IX Of the time from John Wickliff unto the beginning of the Reign of King Henry VIII containing about 140 years And how the Roman Church and John Fox his Church passed in these days BY that which hath been said before from Age to Age of the apparent and manifest Descent Progress and Continuation of the Catholic Roman Church and of her State and Condition as well in England as in other parts of the Christian World at the rising of John Wickliff an English-man about the year of Christ 1371 it is not hard to make the like deduction of the same Church from that time unto the year of Christ 1560 when her Majesty that now is had a little before begun her Reign and established the form of Religion that now is held in England For as for the Popes and chief Ecclesiastical Governors of the Roman Church in this time they are publicly known their Names Number and Succession one to another from Innocentius VI. Vrbanus V. and Gregory XI who first condemned Wickliff's Doctrin unto Pope Pius V. that entred the Roman See at the beginning of her Majesties Reign being in number about Thirty and all of one Faith and Religion the one with the other 2. The Emperours also both of the West and East Empire so long as it lasted are known to have been of the self-same Religion excepting some Disobedience and Schismatical Opinions in some of the Greek Emperours against the Church of Rome for which it may be thought that God of his Justice gave them over at length together with their Empire into Infidels hands about the year of Christ 1450 Constantinus the Twelfth of that Name sirnamed Paleologus being the last of that Race 3. The manner also of proceeding in Ecclesiastical matters by this Church in this time was like unto the former to wit by conserving and continuing the Faith of their Ancestors and precedent times defending the same with like diligence against Innovations of Heretics partly by the Writings of Catholic Learned Men Doctors and Preachers which in these Ages were as Gregorius Ariminensis Laurentius Justinianus Thomas de Kempis Bartholomeus Vrbinas Thomas Waldensis Joannes Gerson Alphonsus Tostatus Sanctus Vincentius Sanctus Antoninus Sanctus Bernardinus Senensis Nicolaus Cusanus Jo. Tritemius Jo. Naucleras Albertus Pius Eckius Empserus Clicthoveus and many other Learned Catholic Writers By whose diligence the Heretics in these Ages were every-where refuted But especially were they repressed by the Authority of Synods and Councils as well Provincial and National as General also to which effect were their latter General Councils the first of Florence under Pope Eugenius IV. against the Heretics and Schismatics of those times about the year of Christ 1432 the second of Lateran under Julius II. and Leo X. about the year of Christ 1513 and the third of Trent against Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists Anabaptists and other such fresher Heretics of our days under Pope Paulus IV. Pius IV. and Pius V. which Council was begun about the year 1445. 4. And albeit in this time as in former Ages there wanted not troublesom Spirits and new-fangling Heads to impugn and exercise this Church as the Wickliffians Hussites Pickards Adamites Thaborites Orebites and other such Sectaries going before Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists Anabaptists Trinitarians and other like new Dogmatists of our days yet were they always discovered resisted vanquished and condemned by the same ordinary Process of Ecclesiastical Censures and Judgment excommunicated anathematiz'd and delivered over to Sathan by the Authority of this Church as all other Heretics were in former Ages and consequently are like to have the self-same final end howsoever they ruffle or resist for a time 5. And this being now the demonstration of our Catholic Church most clear and evident to all them that have Eyes of Understanding to see and Grace to consider the Truth let us pass over to the view of John Fox's Church which having been hitherto invisible from Christ downward and only imaginary or Mathematical as you have seen for that he hath scarce named any to have been of that Church yet now from this time forward he will begin to exhibit unto us a real visible Church on his part that is to say a Succession or rather Representation of divers Professors of his Religion or of some Points thereof at leastwise wherein they differ from the Roman For he doth not think it needful for those of his Church to agree in all Articles nor doth he bind himself to the Rule of St. Augustin Ecclesia universaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat The true Church is universally perfect and doth halt in no one point of Belief But he thinketh it sufficient for his men to agree in some things against the Roman Church and to have some sparkles of Truth in it as before he affirmed albeit therewithal they should have some blemishes and errors also as a little after we will declare 6. The Catalogue of these Protestant Professors whereof Fox would make up his Church we shall handle in the Chapter following Now we are only to tell you that from this time of Wickliff downwards he meaneth to lay down the visible Succession of his Church and to that effect he storeth up all those that held the Articles of the foresaid Wickliff or Husse for Gospellers of his Church whatsoever they held otherwise against him or different among themselves And if any of them or others were punished for their Opinions by our Church then doth he register them for Martyrs or Confessors of the same Church which yet he never durst do before this time albeit there were divers other Sectaries in former Ages that symboliz'd with him in divers Articles as hath been shewed 7. Yea in this matter we may see John Fox also play the Fox and fetch many windings and turnings to deceive his Reader for that at the very entrance of his prolix and tedious Treatise of John Wickliff whom he proposeth as a chosen man raised