by the Souldiers hand but at the beck of the Priest and bidding of the Emperor But the Pope in a Decretall Epistle pretending to teach the world in a point as he pronounces necessarie to saluation with such an interpretation as this argues little reuerence to the Word of God and a very meane opinion of the iudgements and consciences of christen men if they could not discerne this to be a strangers voice not Christs Besides that he changes Saint Bernards wordes and cleane peruerts his meaning For exerendus he puts in exercendus For ille Sacerdotis is militis manu sed sanè ad nutum Sacerdotis iussum Imperatoris Pope Boniface thinking iussum to absolute in the Emperor makes him to bee the executioner and ioynes him with the Souldier on this manner Ille Sacerdotum is manu Regum Militum sed ad nutum patientiam Sacerdotis Saint Bernard makes the executiue power to be in the Souldier the directiue in the Priest the commanding in the Emperor Pope Boniface makes the Kings and Souldiers to haue only the executiue the directiue permissiue to be in the Priest Yea sword he saith must be vnder sword For where the Apostle saith There is no power but of God que autem sunt à Deo ordinata sunt more fully in the originall text the powers that are are ordained that is appointed of God the Interpreter here dreames of order and subordination and cities a saying of Dionysius that the lowest things are reduced to the highest by the middlemost a conceit that makes nothing to the purpose of the Apostle in that place Hee proceeds and tells vs that of the Church and power Ecclesiasticall is verified the prophecie of Ieremy Behold I haue set thee this day ouer Kings and Kingdomes c. Tell me good Master Wadesworth what is to peruerâ— the Scriptures if this bee not to apply to the power Ecclesiasticall that which is spoken of the word and calling Propheticall Yet more The earthly power if it swerue out of the way shall bee iudged of the power spirituall but if the spirituall that is lesser of that which is superiour to it But if the highest it may bee iudged of God onely not of man the Apostle witnessing the spirituall man iudgeth all things but himselfe is iudged of none Wee are come at length as it were to the fountaines of Nilus to the originall of the infallibilitie of your Iudge and if hee haue here rightly interpreted Saint Paul we learne that no earthly power no Magistrate is a spirituall man vnlesse hee bee one of the Popes spiritualtie For these be Saint Pauls spirituall men that iudge all things Yet this must receiue limitation For no man may iudge the Pope the supreme Spirituall man for of him it seemes Saint Paul meant it his authoritie hee saith is not humane but diuine by the diuine mouth giuen to Peter and his successors when the Lord said to him Quodcunque ligaueris For conclusion whosoeuer resists this power thus ordered of God resists the ordinance of God vnlesse as Manichaeus he faine two beginnings which saith hee wee iudge to bee false and hereticall sith by Moses record not in the beginnings but in the beginning God created Heauen and Earth Who would not acknowledge the diuine authoritie and infallibilitie of your Interpreter both in confirming his purpose and conuincing heresies from so high a beginning as this first sentence of holy Writ What rests now but after so many testimonies he inferre Furthermore to be vnder the Bishop of Rome we declare say define and pronounce that to euery humane creature it is altogether of necessitie of saluation Thus saith your infallible Iudge and Interpreter of Scripture the center of your conscience and foundation of your Faith not as a priuate Doctor but as Pope in his owne Law intending to informe and bind the Church and that in matters with him of the greatest importance that may bee touching his owne authoritie and as hee pretends absolutely necessarie to saluation to all the sonnes of Adam I might heape vp many more but these may suffice for a sample You may and so doe by your selfe I beseech you obserue these kind of interpretations in other points also and in other the Decretals Breues of Popes which as I heare are lately come forth in great volumes You shall finde many mysteries in your faith that perhaps you know not of as That you cannot please God because you are married for so is that place of the Apostle interpreted qui in carne viuunt Deo placere non possunt That not onely the wine in the Chalice but the water also is transubstaniated first into wine then into Christs bloud That it was not watry moisture but the true element of water which issued out of Christs side You shall finde confession of sins to the Priest proued by the text Corde creditur a'd iustitiam ore autem fit confessio ad salutem That the good ground that receiued the seed in the Gospel is the religion of the Friers Miâ—â—rs That this is that pure and immaculate religion with God and the Father which descending from the Father of lights deliuered exemplariter verbaliter by the Sonne to his Apostles and then inspired by the holy Ghost into Saint Francis aud his followers containes in it selfe the testimony of the Trinitie This is that which as Saint Paul witnesseth no man must be troublesome vnto which Christ hath confirmed with the prints of his Passion The text is decaetero nemo mihi molestus sit ego n. stigmata Domini Iesu in corpore nemo porto It is maruell if Saint Paul were not of the order of Saint Frances That when Christ said Ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus hee meant it of remaining and being with them euen by his bodily presence Saint Augustine vpon the same text denies this and saith that according to the presence of his body hee is ascended into heauen and is not here That the Father of the childe christened and his Godfathers wife may not marry because according to the Lords word the husband and the wife are made one flesh by marriage That the number of Foure doth well agree to the degrees prohibited in corporall marriage of which the Apostle saith The man hath not the power of his owne body but the woman nor the woman power of her body but the man because there are foure humours in the body which consist of the foure Elements For conclusion you shall finde it by a commodious interpretation concluded contrarie to many texts of Scripture out of Scripture it selfe that no simple and vnlearned man presume to reach to the subtility of the Scripture because well it was enacted in the law of God that the beast which should touch the mountaine should be stoned For it is written Seeke not things higher then thy selfe
become no true Church to wit when it shall so erre damnably But then it followes not There is now no saluation in it and therefore come out of it now When you shew that I shall account you haue done wisely to goe out of it Shew that in anie one point and take me with you In the meane while for my part I shall sooner trust that chapman that shall say to me Loe here is a perfect yard I will measure as truely as I can and when I haue done take the yard and measure it your selfe then him that shall say here is thus much yee shall not neede to measure it but take it on my word yea though one of his Apprentices should stand by and say he could not deceiue mee though hee would as Benedictus a Benedictus tels the present Pope Volens nolens errare non potes Where you relate your endeauour to defend the Church of England and tell of the Puritanes reiecting those Arguments you could vse from the authoritie of the Church and of the ancient Doctors interpreting Scriptures against them flying to their owne arrogant spirit I cannot excuse them for the former nor subscribe to your accusation in the latter Perhaps you haue met with some more fanaticall Brownists or Anadaptists whom here you call Puritans But these that are commonly so called which differ from the Church of England about Church gouernment and ceremonies onely giue indeede to little to the authoritie of men how holy learned or ancient soeuer Which is their fault and their great fault especially in matters of this nature yet they flye not to their owne spirit as you charge them That which you adde that you perceiued the most Protestants did frame the like euasions when you came to answere the Arguments against them on the other side when you shall shew this in particulars I shall beleeue it In the meane while I beleeue you thought so for commonly mediocrities are aggrauated with the hatred slandered with the names of both extreames But in the question betweene the Popish faction and vs you might easily haue discerned why the argument from bare authoritie is not of such validitie For ceremonies and matters of order may be ordered by wise men are not the worse but the better if they be ancient yea if they be common to vs with Rome which Puritans will by no meanes allow In doctrin if holy men yea if an Angell from heauen shall innouate any thing wee are not to admit it Now the controuersies betweene the Romanists and vs are most about doctrine and they exceede as much in extolling the authoritie of the ancients in their priuate opinions and incommodious and strained speeches as the Puritans in depressing them We hold the meane and giue as much to the authoritie and testimonies of the Fathers as may stand with the truth of holy Scriptures and as themselues deferre to the writing of others or require to be giuen to their owne Next you tell of your following their opinion who would make the Church of England and the Church of Rome still to be all one in Essentiall points and the differences to be accidentall Confessing the Church of Rome to be a true Church though sicke or corrupted and the Protestants to be derined from it and reformed This opinion is not onely as you write fauoured of many great Schollers in England but is the common opinion of all the best Diuines of the reformed Churches that are or haue beene in the world as I shewed in part of another worke which as I remember you had a sight of Wherein yet I feare you mistake the tearme accidentall which doth noâ— import that our differences are but sleight and of small confideration but that all those opinions and abuses which we reforme and cut off are not of the Faith but superfluous and â—oraine yea hurtfull and noisome to it as the weedes are to the corne which ouer-grow and choake it And to follow this similitude the state of the Church vnder the Romane obedience and that part which is reformed is like a field ouergrowne all with weedes thistles tares cockle some part whereof is weeded and clensed some part remaines as it was before which makes such a difference to the view as if it were not the same corne But being better considered it will be found all the difference is from the weedes which remaine there and here are taken away Yet neither here perfectly nor all where a like but acâ—ording to the industrie of our weeders or conueniencie of the worke with care of the safetie of the good corne By this Parable you may see what is to be hoped of your labour to reconcile most of our particular controuersies For although I doubt not but in some it may be performed where the difference is rather verball then reall and in the manner of teaching rather then in the substance of doctrine And if moderate men had the matter in handling the flame of contention in a great many more might be troden downe and slaked suppose the sparkes not all extinct yet in some other it is as possible to make the weede and corne-friends as your and our opinions where there is none other remedy but that of our Sauiour Euery plant that my heauenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out Neither doth this impossibilitie arise more out of the nature of the things then the affection of the persons For the Pope and the Court of Rome which are those that domineere on that side doe no lesse out of the feare of their owne ruine deadly detest all reformation then the reformed out of their present view and former feeling the tyrannie of the Papacie which they see doth excommunicate and put to cruell death all that are of this way And which is a prodigious thing where they tolerate the blasphemous and professed enemies of Christ euen with allowance of the publike exercise of their Religion there doe they burne men professing Christs religion according to the ancient and common rule thereof with that vprightnesse of conscience that if they had as many liues as there be Articles thereof they would giue them all rather then renounce any of them As for the Protestants making the Pope Antichrist I know it is a point that inrageth much at Rome But if the Apostle Saint Paul if Saint Iohn in the Reuelation describe Antichrist so as they that doe but looke vpon the Pope well must be forced to say as the people did of the blinde man in the Gospell some this is â—e others he is very like him if himselfe and his flatterers doe and speake such things as if all others should hold their peace doe in a sort proclaime I am he what can the Protestants doe with the matter I will take the liberty here to relate to you what I saw while I was in Venice the rather because it is not impertinent to our present purpose And though perhaps you may
prophane nouelties of heresies Had they knowne of this infallible Iudge should wee not haue heard of him in this so proper a place and as it were in a cause belonging to his owne Court Nay doth not the writing it selfe of such bookes shew that this mattter was wholly vnknowne to Antiquitie For had the Church beene in possession of so easie and sure a Court to discouer and discard heresies they should not haue needed to taske themselues to finde out any other But the truth is infallibilitie is and euer hath beene accounted proper to Christs iudgement And as hath beene said all necessarie Truth to saluation hee hath deliuered vs in his Word That Word himselfe tells vs shall iudge at the last day Yea in all true decisions of Faith that Word euen now iudgeth Christ iudgeth the Apostle sits Iudge Christ speakes in the Apostle Thus Antiquitie Neither are they moued a whit with that obiection That the Scriptures are often the matter of Controuersies For in that case the remedie was easie which Saint Augustine shewes to haue recourse to the plaine places and manifest such as should need no interpreter for such there bee by which the other may bee cleered The same may be said if sometimes it be questioned which bee Scriptures which not I thinke it was neuer heard of in the Church that there was an externall infallible Iudge who could determine that question Arguments may be brought from the consent or dissent with other Scriptures from the attestation of Antiquitie and inherent signes of diuine authoritie or humane infirmitie but if the Auditor or Aduersarie yeeld not to these such parts of necessitie must needes be laid aside If all Scripture be denied which is as it were exceptio in iudicem ante litis contestationem Faith hath no place onely Reason remaines To which I thinke it will scarce seeme reasonable if you should say though all men are liers yet this Iudge is infallible and to him thou oughtest in conscience to obey and yeeld thy vnderstanding in all his detâ—rminations for hee cannot erre No not if all men in the world should say it Vnlesse you first set downe there is a God and stablish the authoritie of the bookes of holy Scripture as his voyce and thence shew if you can the warrant of this priuiledge Where you offiâ—me the Scriptures to be the law and the rule but alone of themselues cannot bee Iudges if you meane without being produced applied and heard yee say truth Yet Nicodemus spake not aâ—isse when hee demanded Doth our law iudge any man vnlesse it heare him first hee meant the same which Saint Paul when hee said of the high Priest thou sittest to iudge me according to the law and so doe we when wee say the same Neither doe wee send you to Angels or God himselfe immediately but speaking by his spirit in the Scriptures and as I haue right now said alledged and by discourse applied to the matters in question As for Princes since it pleased you to make an excursion to them if wee should make them infallible Iudge or giue them authoritie to decree in religion as they list as Gardiner did to King Henry the eight it might well bee condemned for monstrous as it was by Caluin As for the purpose Licere Regi interdicere populo vsum calicis in Coena Quarè Potestas 〈◊〉 summa est penes Regem quoth Gardiner This was to make the King as absolute a Tyrant in the Church as the Pope claimed to bee But that Princes which obey the truth haue commandement from God to command good things and forbid euill not onely in matters pertaining to humane societie but also the religion of God this is no new strange doctrine but Calums and ours and S. Augustines is so many words And this is all the Head-ship of the Church wee giue to Kings Whereof a Queene is as well capable as a King since it is an Act of authoritie not Ecclesiasticall Ministery proceeding from eminencie of power not of knowledge or holinesse Wherein not onely a learned King as ours is but a good old woman as Queene Elizabeth besides her Princely dignitie was may excell as your selues confesse your infallible Iudge himselfe But in power hee saith hee is aboue all which not to examine for the present in this power Princes are aboue all their subiects I trow and Saint Augustine saith plainly to command and forbid euen in the religion of God still according to Gods Word which is the touchstone of good and euill Neither was King Henry the eight the first Prince that exercised this power witnesse Dauid and Salomon and the rest of the Kings of Iudah before Christ And since that Kings were Christians the affaires of the Church haue depended vpon them and the greatest Synodes haue beene by their Decree as Socrates expresly saith Nor did King Henry claime any new thing in this Land but restored to the Crowne the ancient right thereof which sundry his predecessors had exercised as our Historians and Lawyers with one consent affirme The rest of your induction of Archbishops Bishops and whole Clergie in their Conuocation house and a Councell of all Lutherans Caluinists Protestants c. is but a needlesse pompe of words striuing to win by a forme of discourse that which gladly shall bee yeelded at the first demand They might all erre if they were as many as the sand on the sea shoare if they did not rightly apply the rule of holy Scriptures by which as you acknowledge the externall Iudge which you seeke must proceed As to your demand therefore how you should be sure when and wherein they did and did not erre where you should haue fixed your foot to forbeare to skirmish with your confirmation That though à posse ad esse non valet semper consequentia yet aliquando valet frustra dicitur potentia quae nunquam dueitur in actum To the former whereof I might tell you that without question nunquam valet and to the second that I can verie well allow that errandi potentia among Protestants be euer frustra This I say freely that if you come with this resolution to learne nothing by discourse or euidence of Scripture but only by the meere pronouncing of a humane externall Iudges mouth to whom you would yeeld your vnderstanding in all his determinations if as the Iesuites teach their Schollers you will wholly deny your owne iudgement and resolue that if this Iudge shall say that is blacke which appeares to your eyes white you will say it is blacke too you haue posed all the Protestants they cannot tell how to teach you infallibly Withall I must tell you thus much that this preparation of minde in a Scholler as you are in a Minister yea in a Christian that had but learned his Creed much more that had from a childe knowne the holy Scriptures that are able to make vs wise to saluation
perhaps was added that the pricks are a late inuention of the Rabbines as many thinke and no part of the Hebrew Text. And that not onely Leo Castro and such as accuse the present Hebrew Copies as falâ—ified but those that defend them also doe many of them confesse Hereupon it was resolued as it seemes to point this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that it was not by mistaking but purposely done Franciscuâ— Lucas in his Annotations vpon the place doth assure vs and saith it was Guido Fabricius his deede And indeede other things there bee in that worke which sauour not of the learning and integritie of Arias Montanus as for example the Etymologie of Missa from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as Boldnesse is not alwayes as prouident as Ignorance or Malice is bold these Correctors marked not that the gender of the Verbe and the affixe of the Noune following are both Masculine So although the Orthographie would bee framed to consent yet the Syntaxe doth crie out against this Sacriledge And yet our Rhemists as I am informed in their lately set forth Bible with a long note vpon this place defend the applying of this Text to the blessed Virgin and the old reading Ipsa What should a man say Necessitie makes men desperate and as the Apostle saith Euill men and deceiuers shall waxe worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued These be fraudes indeed in the strictest sense wilfully corrupting the Texts of good Authors wilfully maintayning them so corrupted not abstayning from the holy Scriptures themselues For as to that other kinde deprauing the sense retayning the wordes it were endlesse to cite examples Bellarmine alone as I beleeue passeth any two Protestants that euer set pen to paper perhaps all of them put together CHAP. VII Of the Armies of euident witnesses for the Romanists WHere you adde that you found the Catholikes had farre greater and better Armies of euident witnesses then the Protestants it might perhaps seeme so to you as your minde was prepared when you had met with such cunning muster-Masters as the Romanists are Who sometimes bring into the fiâ—ld to make their number seeme more after the old stratagem of warre a sort of Pages and Lackeis vnworthy to hold any ranke in the host of God vnder the names of the Fathers Sometimes to confirme their part giue out a voice confidently that all the â—orces which they see aloofe in the field are on their side whereas when it comes to the battell they shall finde that they wil turne their armes against them Somtimes they change the quarrell it selfe in which case how easie is it to bring Armies as you say into the field to fight against No-bodie and euident witnesses to proue that which no man denies For the purpose that the Bishops of Rome hath had a primacie of honour and authoritie when as the question is about a Monarchie and infallible Iudgement an vncontrolable Iurisdiction Herein if you please see how Bellarmine alleages the Fathers Greeke and Latine in the 15. and 16. Chapters of his first Booke de Summo Pontifice So for proofe of the veritie of Christs Bodie and Bloud in the Lords Supper hee spends a whole Booke onely in citing the testimonies of the Fathers To what purpose When the question is not of the truth of the Presence buâ— of the manner whether it be to the Teeth and Belly or Soule and Faith of the Receiuer Sometimes they will beare downe the vnexpert Souldier their Reader that hee sees the Fathers fight for them as Pighius and Bellarmine come in often with their Vides in the end and application of a testimonie Whereby it comes to passe that the Scholler if he be of a plyable disposition or loath to bee counted dimme-sighted yeelds himselfe to his Teacher and sees in the Fathers that which they neuer dreamed of But surely Sir had you giuen that honour to the holy Scriptures which of the Iewes was giuen to them and our Lord Iesus Christ allowes it in them and then employed as much trauell in the searching and looking into them as you professe to haue done in the perusing the Councels and Fathers perhaps God had opened your eyes as those of Elâ—sha his seruant to haue seene that there are more on our side then against vs horses indeede and charets of fire able to put to flight and scatter neuer so great armies of humane authorities and opinions But this place of the Scriptures hath no place amongst all your motiues As touching that which you say of the Centurists often consuring and reiecting the plaine testimonies of the Ancients It is true that in the title De Doctrina they note a part the singular and incommodious opinions the stubble and errors of the Doctors Wherein to tell you my fancie if they commit any fault it is that they are to rigid and strict referring into this Catalogue euery improper and excessiue speech which being seuered from the rest of the discourse may often seeme absurd as it may also seeme strange that our Sauiour should teach a man to hate his Father and Mother or pull out his eyes or giue him his cloake that hath bereaued him of his coate Whereas these and the like haue in the place where they stand admirable force and grace being taken with an equall and commodious interpretation But it is are cleare as the noone day that sundry such errors and singular opinions there be in the Fathers as cannot be iustified They speake not alwaies to your own mindes not onely prima facie and in sound of words but being neuer so well examined and salued Witnesse Sixtus Senensis in the fift and sixt Bookes of his Bibliotheca Witnesse Pamelius Medina though blamed for confessing so much by Bellarmine yea witnesse Bellarmine himselfe Wherefore if the bare authoritie of the Fathers must binde vs vndergoe the same law yee giue if as your Belgick Index confesseth you beare in them with many errors extenuate them excuse them by deuising some shift often denie them and giue them a câ—modious sense when they are opposed in disputations giue the libertie ye take Or if as we thinke these be base courses and vnbeseeming the ingenuitie of true Christian mindes acknowledge this honour as proper to the Scriptures to be without controuersie receiued examine by the true touchstone of diuine authoritie all humaine writings how holy soeuer their Authors haue beene Try all things as the Apostle commands hold fast that which is good Your instance in Danaeus his Commentaries super D. Aug. Euchiridion ad Laurentium was not all the best chosen For neither doth Saint Augustine in that booke treating professedly of Purgatory auouch it plainely or yet obscurely Nor doth Danaeus reiect his opinion with those words Hic est naeâ—us Augustini or the like The heads of Saint Augustines discourse are these I. That whereas some thought that such as are baptized and holde the Faith of Christ though they liue and
most Protestants they migâ—t in such a Councell erre and it were possible in their Decrees to be deceiued But if they may erre how should I know and be sure when and wherein they did or did not erre for though on the one side â— posse ad esse non valet semper consequentia yet 〈◊〉 valet and on the other side 〈…〉 potentia quae nunquam ducitur in actuâ— So that 〈◊〉 neither in generall nor in particular in puoâ—â—que 〈◊〉 priuate in head nor members ioynely nor â—euerally you haue no visible externall humane infallible Iudge who cannot erre and to whom I might haue recourse for decision of doubts in matters of faith â— pray let Master Hall tell me where should I haue fixed my foot for God is my witnesse my soule was like Noah Douâ— a long time houering desirous to discouer land but seeing nothing but moueable and troublesome deceiueable water I could find no quiet center for my conscience nor any firme foundation for your faith in Protestant Religion Wherfore hearing a sound of harmonâ—e and consent that the Catholique Church could not erre and that onely in the Catholique Church as in Noahs Arke was infallabilitte and possibilitie of saluation I was so occasioned and I thinke had important reason like Noahs Doue to seeke out and to enter into this Arke of Noah Hereupon I was occasioned to doubt whether the Church of England were the true Church or not For by consent of all the true Church cannot erre but the Church of England head and members King Clergie and People as before is said yea a whole Councell of Protestants by their owne grant may erre ergo no true Church If no true Church no saluation in it therefore come out of it but that I was loath to doe Rather I laboured mightily to defend it both against the Puritanes and against the Catholiques But the best arguments I could vse against tâ—e Puritanes from the Authoritie of the Church and of the ancient Doctors interpreting Scriptures against them when they could not answere them they would reiect them for Popish and fâ—ye to their owne arrogant spirit by which forsooth they must controll others This I found on the one side most absâ—rd and â—o bâ—eede an Anarchy of confusion and yet when I come to answere the Catholique Arguments on â—he other side against Protestants â—rging the like Authority and vniformity of the Church I perceiued the most Protestants did frame euasions in effect like those of the Puritanes inclining to â—heir priuate spirit and other vncertainties Next therefore I applied my selfe to follow their opinion who would make the Church of England and the Church of Rome still to be all one â—n essentiall points and the diffâ—rences to be accidentall confessing the Church of Rome to be a true Church though sicke or corrupted and the Protestants to be deriued from it and reformed and to this end I laboured much to reconcile most of our particular controuersies But in truth I found such contrarâ—eties not onely betweene Catholiques and Protestants but euen among Protestants themselues that I could neuer settle my selfe fully in this opinion of some reconciliation which I know many great Schollers in England did fauour For considering so many opposite great points for which they did excommunicate and put to death each other and making the Pope to be Antichrist proper or improper it could neuer sinke into my braine how these two could be descendent or members â—ound nor vnfound participant each of other Rather I concluded that â—eeing many of the best learned Protestants did grant the Church or Rome 〈…〉 true Church though 〈…〉 And contrarily not onely the Catholiques but also the Puritanes Anabaptists Brownists c. did all denie the Church of England to be a true Church therefore it would be more safe and secure to become a Romane Catholique who haue a true Church by consent of both parties then to remaine a Protestant who doe alone plead their owne cause hauing all the other against them For the testimony of our selues and our contraries also is much more sufficient and more certaine then to iustifie our selues alone Yet I resisted and stood out still and betooke my selfe againe to reade ouer and examine the chiefest controuersies especially those about the Church which is cardo negotij and herein because the Bearer â—taies now a day or two longer I will inlarge my selfe more then I purposed and so I would needes peruse the Originall quotations and Texts of the Councels Fathers and Doctors in the Authors themselues which were alleadged on both parts to see if they were truely cited and according to the meaning of the Authors a labour of much labor and of trauell sometime to finde the Books wherein I found much fraud committed by the Protestants and that the Catholiques had farre greater and better armies of euident witnesses on their sides much more then the Protestants in so much that the Centurists are faine often to censure and reiect the plaine testimonies of those Ancients as if their new censure were sufficient to disaucthorize the others auncient sentences And so I remember Danaeus in Commentarijs super D. Augustin Enchirid ad Laurentium Where Saint Augustin plainely auoucheth Purgatory he reiects Saints Augustines opinion saying hic est naeuus Augustini but I had rather follow Saint Augustins opinion then his ceâ—sure for who are they to controll the Fathers There are indeede some few places in Authors which prima facie seeme to fauour Protestants as many Heretiques alleadge some texts of Scriptures whose sound of words seeme to make for their opinions but being well examined and interpreted according to the analogie of faith and according to many other places of the same Authours where they doe more fully explaine their opinions so they appeare to be wrested and from the purpose In fine I found my selfe euidently conuinced both by many Authorities and by many Arguments which now I doe not remember all nor can here repeate those which I doe remember but onely some few arguments I will relate vnto you which preuailed most with me besides those afore mentioned First therefore I could neuer approue the Protestants euasion by Inuisibility of their Church For though sometime it may be diminished and obscured yet the Catholique Church must euer be visible set on a hill and not as light hid vnder a Bushell for how should it enlighteâ—â—nd teach her children if inuisible or how should Strangers and Pagans and others be conuerted vnto her or where should any finde the Sacraments if inuisible Also the true Church in all places and all ages euer holds one vniformitie and concord in all matters of Faith though not in all matters of ceremony or gouernment But the Protestants Church hath not in all ages nor in all places such vniforme concord no not in one age as is manifest to all the world and as Father Parsons proued against Foxes martirs Wickliffe Husse and the resâ— ergo the
Protestants Church not the true Church Againe by that saying Haereses ad originem reuocasse est refutasse and so considering Luthers first rancour against the Dominicans his disobedience and contempt of his former Superiours his vowe breaking and violent courses euen causing rebellion against the Emperour whom he reuiles and other Princes most shamefully surely such arrogant disobedience scisme and rebellions had no warrant nor vocation of God to plant his Church but of the Deuill to begin a scisme and a sect So likewise for Caluin to say nothing of all that D. Bolsecus brings against him I doe vrge onely what Master Hooker Doctor Bancroft and Sarauia doe proue against him for his vnquietnesse and ambition reuoluing the Common-wealth and so vniuâ—tly expelling and depriuing the Bishop of Geneua and other temporall Lords of their due obedience and ancient inheritance Moreouer I referre you to the stirres broiles sedition and murders which Knoxe and the Geneua Gospellers caused in Scotland against their lawfull Gouernours against their Queene and against our King euen in his Mothers belly Nor will I insist vpon the passions which first moued King Henrie violently to diuorce himselfe from his lawfull wife to fall out with the Pope his friend to marrie the Lady Anne Bullen and soone after to behead her to disinherite Queene Mary and enable Queene Elizabeth and presently to diâ—inherit Queene Elizabeth and to restore Queene Mary to hang Catholiques for traitors and to burne Protestants for heretiques to destroy Monasteries and to pill Churches were these fit beginnings for the Gospell of Christ I pray was this man a good head of Gods Church for my part I beseech our Lord blesse me from being a member of such a head or such a Church I come to France and Holland where you know by the Hugenots and Geuses all Caluinistes what ciuill wars they haue raised how much bloud they haue shed what rebellion rapine and desolations they haue occasioned principally for their new Religion founded in bloud like Draecos lawes But I would gladly know whether you can approue such bloudy broiles for Religion or no I know Protestants de facto doe iustifie the ciuill warres of France and Holland for good against their Kings but I could neuer vnderstand of them quo lure if the Hollanders be Rebels as they are why did we support themâ— if they be no rebels because they fight for the pretended liberty of their ancient priuiledges and for their new Religion we see it is an easie matter to pretend liberties and also why may not others as as well reuolt for their old Religion Or I beseech you why is that accounted treason against the State in Catholiques which is called reason of State in Protestants I reduce this argument to few words That Church which is founded and begun in maâ—ice disobedience passion bloud and rebellion cannot be the true Church but it is euident to the world that the Protestant Churches in Germanie Francâ— Holland Geneua c. were so founded and in Geneua and Holland are still continued in rebellion ergo they are not true Churches Furthermore where is not Succession both of true Pastors and of true Doctrine there is no true Church But among Protestants is no succession of true Pastors for I omit here to treate of Doctrine ergo no true Church I prooue the minor where is no consecration nor ordination of Bishops and Priests according to the due forme and right intention required necessarily by the Church and ancient Councels there is no succession of true Pastors but among Protestants the said due forme and right intention are not obserued ergo no succession of true Pastors The said due forme and right intention are not obserued among Protestants in France Holland nor Germanie where they haue no Bishops and where Lay men doe intermeddle in the making of their Ministers And for England whereas the Councels require the ordines minores of Subdeacon and the rest to goe before Priesthood your Ministers are made per saltum without euer being Subdeacons And whereas the Councels require three Bishops to assist at the consecration of a Bishop it is certaine that at the Nags-head in Cheap-side where consecration of your first Bishops was attempted but not effected whereabout I remember the controuersie you had with one there was but one Bishop and I am sure there was such a matter and although I know and haue seene the Records themselues that afterward there was a consecration of Doctor Parker at Lambeth and three Bishops named viz. Miles Couerdall of Exceter one Hodgeskin Suffragan of Bedford and another whose name I haue forgotten yet it is very doubtfull that Couerdall being made Bishop of Exceter in King Edwards time when all Councels and Church Canons were little obserued he was neuer himselfe Canonically consecrated and so if he were no Canonicall Bishop he could not make another Canonicall and the third vnnamed as I remember but am not sure was onely a Bishop Elect and not consecrated and so was not sufficient But hereof I am sure that they did consecrate Parker by vertue of a Breue from the Queene as Head of the Church who indeed being no true Head and a Woman I cannot see how they could make a true consecration grounded on her authoritie Furthermore making your Ministers you keepe not the right intention for neither doe the Orderer nor the Ordered giue nor receiue the Orders as a Sacrament nor with any intention of Sacrificing Also they want the matter and forme with which according to the Councels and Canons of the Church holy Orders should be giuen namely for the matter Priesthood is giuen by the deliuerie of the Patena with bread and of the Chalice with wine Deaconship by the deliuerie of the booke of the Gospels and Subdeaconship by the deliuerie of the Patena alone and of the Chaliâ—e emptie And in the substantiall forme of Priesthood you doe faile most of all which forme consists in these wordes Accipe potestatem offerendi sacrificium in Ecclesia pro viuis mortuis which are neither said noâ— done by you and therefore well may you bee called Ministers as also Lay men are but you are no Priests Wherefore I conclude wanting Subdeaconship wanting vndoubted Canonicall Bishops wanting right intention wanting matter and due forme and deriuing euen that you seeme to haue from a Woman the Head of your Church therefore you haue no true Pastors and consequently no true Church And so to conclude and not to wearie my selfe and you too much being resolued in my vnderstanding by these and many other Arguments that the Church of England was not the true Church but that the Church of Rome was and is the onely true Church because it alone is Ancient Catholique and Apostolique hauing Succession Vnitie and Visibilitie in all ages and places yet what agonies I passed with my will here I will ouer-passe Onely I cannot pretermit to tell you that at last hauing also mastered and
passage of holy Scripture For your conceit or desire that such a Iudge there should be to whom you might in conscience obey and yeeld your selfe because he could not errâ— doth not proue it You would know the Truth onely by the authoritie and sole pronouncing of the Iudges mouth A short and easie way which to most men is plausible because it spares the paines of studie and discourse To such especially as either out of weaknesse dare not trust their owne iudgement or account it shall haue the merit of humilitie to bee led by their Teachers But what now if God will haue you call no man your Father vpon earth If he will send you to his Word and after you haue receiued the Faith by the Churches testimonie out of the easie and plaine places thereof bid you search the Scriptures to finde the Truth in the remnant and pick it out by your owne industrie The rich man being in hell torments in whose wordes I doubt not but our Sauiour doth impersonate and represent the conceits of many men liuing in this world presumes that if one were sent from the dead his Kinsmen would hearken to him but he is remitted to Moses and the Prophets The Iewes as I perceiued by speech with some of them at Venice make it one of their motiues that our Lord Iesus is not the Christ. He should not say they haue come in such a fashion to leaue his owne Nation in doubt and suspence and scandalize so many thousands but so as all men might know him to be what he was Miserable men that will giue lawes to God Of which fault be you a ware also good Master Waddesworth and be content to take not to prescribe the meanes by which you will be brought vnto the knowledge of the Truth to vse what hee hath giuen not to coniecture and diuine what he must giue But God failes not his Church in such meanes as be necessarie Let vs therefore consider the necessitie of this Iudge Where I beseech you consider for I am sure you cannot but know it that all things necessary to saluation are euidently set downe in holy Scripture This both the Sciptures themselues doe teach and the Fathers auouch namely Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome and others I forbeare to set downe their words or further to confirme this Lemma which I proued at large against another aduersarie and shall at all times make good if it be questioned Besides these points there are a great manie other though not of such necessitie yet euidently laid downe also in the same Scriptures by occasion of them Manie by iust discourse may be cleared from these and the former If any thing yet remaine in suspence and vnknowne yea or if you will erred in so it be not wilfully and obstinately yet shall it be euer without perill of damnation to him that receiueth what the holy Ghost hath plainely deliuered What necessitie then of your imaginarie Iudge Yes for Vnitie is a goodly thing not onely in matters necessarie but vniuersally in all Controuersies must not bee endlesse But how comes it to passe then that your Iudge whosoeuer hee be doth not all this while decide the question touching the Conception of the Blessed Virgin that is betweene the Dominicans and Franciscans nor that betweene the Dominicans and Iesuites touching Grace and Free-will and all other the points that are controuerted in the Schooles to spare contention and time a precious commoditie among wise men and giue this honour to Diuinitie alone that in â—t all doubts should be reduced to certainties Or if it seeme no wisedome to bee hastie in deciding such questions wherein wittie and learned men are engaged least in stead of changing their opinions they should fall to challenge not onely the infallibilitie but which were more dangerous the authoritie of their Iudge If it be thought better to leaue scope to opinions opposition it selfe profitably seruing to the boulting out of the truth If vnitie in all things bee as it seemes despaired of by this your Gellius himselfe why are wee not content with vnitie in things necessary to saluation expresly set downe in holy Scripture and anciently thought to suffice reseruing infallibilitie as an honour proper to God speaking there Why should it not be thought to suffice that euery man hauing imbraced that necessarie truth which is the rule of our faith thereby trie the spirits whether they be of God or no. If hee meete with any that hath not that doctrine receiue him not to house nor salute him If consenting to that but otherwise infirme or erring yet charitably beare with him This for euery priuate man As for the publike order peace of the Church God hath giuen Pastors and Teachers that we should not bee carried about with euery winde of doctrine and amongst them appointed Bishops to command that men teach no other or forraine doctrine which was the end of Timothy his leauing at Ephesus 1. Tim. 1. 3. Then the Apostles themselues by their example haue commended to the Church the wholsome vse of Synodes to determine of such controuersies as cannot by the former meanes be composed but still by the holy Scriptures the Law or Rule as you say well by which all these Iudges must proceede Which if they doe not then may they be deceiued themselues and deceiue others as experience hath shewed yet neuer bee able to extinguish the truth To come to Antiquitie There is not any one thing belonging to Christian Religion if wee consider well of more importance then how the puritie of the whole may bee maintayned The Ancients that write of the rest of Christian Doctrine is it not a miracle had they knowne any such infallâ—ble Iudge in whose Oracle the securitie of all with the perpetuall tranquillitie of the Church is contayned they should say nothing of him There was neuer any Age wherein there haue not beene heresies and sects to which of them was it euer obiected that they had no infallible Iudge How soone would they haue fought to amend that defect if it had beene a currant doctrine in those times that the true Church cannot bee without such an Officer The Fathers that dealt with them why did they not lay aside all disputing and appeale them only to this Barre Vnlesse perhaps that were the let which Cardinall Bellarmine tells the Venetians hindered Saint Paul from appealing to Saint Peter lâ—st they should haue made their Aduersaries to laugh at them for their labour Well howsoeuer the Cardinall hath found out a merrie reason for Saint Paules appealing to Caesars iudgement not Peters lest hee should expose himselfe to the laughter of Pagans what shall wee say when the Fathers write professedly to instruct Catholike men of the forepleadings and aduantages to bee vsed against Heretikes euen without descending to triall by Scriptures or of some certaine generall and ordinarie way to discerne the Truth of the Catholike Faith from the
This I presse that all those Writers and Councels and amongst them Pope Leo the second accursing Honorius did not then hold that which by Pighius and the Iesuites is vndertaken that the Pope is infallible Euen the Councell of Basil deposing Eugenius for obstinately resisting this truth of the Catholike faith That the Councell is aboue the Pope as an Heretike doth shew the sense of Christendome euen in these latter times how corrupt soeuer both in rule and practice And because you make this infallible Iudge to be also an infallible Interpreter of holy Scripture how happens it that Damasuâ— Bishop of Rome consults with Hierome about the meaning of sundrie Texts of Scripture when it seems himselfe might haue taken his pen and set him downe quickly that which should haue taught both him and the whole Church not onely without danger but euen possibilitie of error Sure wee are little beholding to the diligence of our Ancestors that haue not more carefully registred the Commentaries or because they haue had for sundrie Ages small time to write iust Commentaries the expositions which in their Sermons or otherwise the Bishops of Rome haue made of holy Scripture A worke which if this Doctrine were true were more worth then all the Fathers and would iustifie that blasphemie of the Canon Law where by a shamefull corruption of Saint Augustine the Decretals of Popes are inrolled amongst the Canonicall Scriptures I am alreadie too long in so plaine a matter yet one proofe more which is of all most sensible Being admonished by this your conceit of an infallible Interpreter I chanced to turne ouer the Popes Decretals and obserued the interpretation of Scriptures What shall I say I finde them so leud and cleane beside the purpose yea oftentimes so childish ridiculous both in giuing the sense and in the application that I protest to you in the presence of God nothing doth more lothe me of Poperie then the handling of holy Scripture by your infallible Interpreter alone Consider a few of the particulars and especially such as concerne the Popes owne authoritie To iustifie his exacting an oath of fealtie of an Archbishop to whom he grantâ— the Pall is brought our Lord Iesus Christ who committing the â—are of his Sheepe to Peter did put too a condition saying Sid diligis me pasce oues meas Christ said if thou louest me feede my sheepe Why may not the Pope say If you will sweare me fealtie you shall haue the Pall. But first hee corrupts the Text Christ said not If thou louest mee Then Christ puts not Peters loue as a condition of feeding but feeding as a proofe and effect of his loue And if the feeding of Christs sheepe were sought loue to him and them might suffice to be professed or if he would needs haue more then Christ required to be sworne What is this to the oath of fealtie Straight after to the obiection that all oathes are prohibited by Christ nor any such thing can bee found appointed by the Apostles after the Lord or in the Councels he vrges the wordes following in the Text Sweare not at all quod ampliâ—s est à malo est that is saith hee Euill compels vs by Christs permission to exact more It is not euill to goe from the Popes obedience to condemne Bishops without his priuitie to translate Bishops by the Kings commandement See the place and tell me of your Interpreters infallibilitie Treating of the translation of Bishops or such as are elected vnto other Sees hee saith That since the spirituall Bands is stronger then the carnall it cannot be doubted but Almightie God hath reserued the dissolution of the spirituall marriage that is betwixt a Bishop and his Church to his owne iudgement alone charging that whom God hath â—oyned man seuer not For it is not by humane but rather diuine power that spirituall marriage is dissolued when as by translation or cession by the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome whom it is plaine to bee the Vicar of Iesus Christ a Bishop is remoued from his Church An admirable interpretation of the Text Quos Deus coniâ—nxit by which the Pope not onely challengeth that which is proper to Gods iudgement onely as hee saith viz. to dissolue the bond of spirituall wedlock but because that is the stronger of â—arnall it seemes also when it shall please him The anointing of a Prince since Christs comming is translated from the head to the shoulder by which Principalitie is fitly designed according to that which is read Factus est principatus super humorum eius for signifying also whereof Samuel caused the shoulder to be set before Saul Who should euer haue vnderstood these Texts if your infallible Interpreter had not declared them But this is nothing yet to the exposition of those Texts which the Pope interprets in his answere to the Emperor of Constantinople as Subditi estote omni humanae oreaturae propter Deum c. He tells him that Saint Peter wrote that to his owne Subiects to prouoke them to the merit of humilitie For if he had meant thereby to lay the yoke of subiection vpon Priests it would follow that euery seruant were to rule ouer them since it is said omni humanae creaturae After Iris not barely set downe Regi praecellenti but there is put betweene perhaps not without cause tanquam And that which followes ad vindictam malefactorum laudem vero bonorum is not to bee vnderstood that the King or Emperor hath receiued the power of the sword vpon good and euill men saue onely those who vsing the sword are committed to his iurisdiction according to that which the Truth saith They which take the sword shall perish with the sword For no man ought or can iudge anothers seruant since the seruant according to the Apostle standeth or falleth to his owne Lord. For the loue of God consider this interpretation and compare it with Saint Chrystoâ—e vpon Rom. 13. Nay doe but reade the Text attentiuely and iudge of the infallibilitie of your Interpreter Straight after hee tells the Emperor that hee might haue vnderstood the prerogatiue of Priesthood out of that which was said not of euery man but of God not to the King but to the Priest not to one descending of the Royall stocke but of the Priestly linage of the Priests to wit which were in Anathot Behold I haue set you ouer nations and kingdomes to pull vp and destroy to build and to plant See the prerogatiue of the Priesthood out of Ieremies calling to bee a Prophet O if hee had beene high Priest This had beene a Text for the nonce But hee goes on It is said in Gods Law also Dijs non detrabes Principem populi tui non maledices Which setting Priests before Kings cals them Gods and the other Princes Compare this exposition with Dauids and Paules Psal. 82. and Act. 23. 5. and yee shall
and testifie that this first place was falsified Hee said in the page before that Plessis appeared at last with some foure or fiue Ministers on his side There were no Ministers appeared with him on his side No Protestants no creature did subscribe or was required so to doe The third Which at length they did viz. subscribe this place was falsified A vtter vntruth Whereof there is not a word in the said printed Narration The fourth as well in this as in all the rest There was no subscription as I said at all The Commissioners were all of the Roman profession sauing Causabon and he no Minister They neuer pronounced much lesse subscribed that any of those places examined were falsified Of the first place of Scotus they pronounced nothing Of the second of Durand That the opposition of Durand was alleaged for the resolution And this they would haue remitted also as the former to another time saue that the Bishop insisted saying it was in vaine to dispute if they would not iudge addressing his speech diuers times to the King to the intent hee should signifie his pleasure to the Commissioners and then his Maiestie drawing neere to them they gaue their opinions vpon that Article as before This was that which F. Parsons stumbled at when hee wrote The Ministers and Protestants there present subscribed and testified that it was falsified and so all the rest For being ouerioyed with this newes which hee did not well vnderstand to thinke the charitablest of him hee thought the Commissioners had beene part at least Protestants and Ministers and had subscribed whereas they pronounced their sentence viua voce by the mouth of the Chancellour neuer vsing the tearme falsification yea in some of the rest they acquited the L. of Plessis as in the passage of P. Crinitus though they said Crinitus was deceiued In that of Bernard that it had beene good to distinguish the two passages of Saint Bernard out of the same booke with an et caetera Not to stand now vpon that that in the rest of the places he hath a reasonable and iust defence with indifferent men for the omissions he was charged with in Chrysostome Hierome Bernard and Theodorit and in that of Cyril the King himselfe said aloud that both sides had reason but F. Parsons not hauing as it appeares receiued perfect information of the particularities of this affaire was so hastie to write according to the partiall intelligenâ—e he receiued at Rome that hee faults himselfe in the same kinde that hee imputes to another And if he should meete with some seuere aduersarie that would multiplie his falsehoods by his leaues and lines as he dealeth with Master Fox and then extend by proportion his pamphlet to the bignesse of Master Fox his Booke of Martyrs he would finde that he prouides very ill for himselfe that is to rigorous and censorious to other men But I leaue him and come to the fidelitie of the Popish faction whereof I shall desire you to take a taste in one of the questions which you name about the Church euen that which is indeede cardo negotij as you say the controuersie of the Popes authoritie For the establishing whereof First the Epistles of the ancient Bishops of Rome for the space of about 300. yeares after Christ are counterfeited The Barbarous not Latine but lead of the stile and the likenesse of them all one to another the deepe silence of antiquitie concerning them the Scriptures alleadged after Hieromes translation doe conuince them of falshood And by whose practice and procurement we cannot doubt if wee aske but as Cassius was wont Cui bono For at euery bout the authoritie of the Pope and priuiledges of the Roman See are extolled and magnified Next the Donation of Constantine is a sencelesse forgerie and so blazed by some of the learnedest of the Roman Church Reade it aduisedly either in Gratian or in the Decrees of Syluester with the Confession and Legend of Constantines baptisme and say out of your owne iudgement if euer any thing can be more fraudulent more sottish And because I haue mentioned Gratian his whole compilation is fâ—ll of falsification and corruption of Antiquitie take an example or two in the matter wee haue in hand The Mileuitene and after the Africane Councils vnderpaine of Excommunication prohibit appeales beyond the Seas Which Canons were made purposely to meet with the vsurpations of the Bishops of Rome of which I haue spoken some what before Now in the citing this Canon Gratian addes this goodly explication nisi forte Romanam sedem appellauerint thus excepting that abuse which these Councels directly sought to prohibit Againe Saint Augustine to informe a Christian man what Scriptures hee should hold for Canonicall bids Gratianâ—its â—its it thus inter quâ—â— Scripturas sane illae sunt quas Apostolica sedes habere ab ea alij meruâ—runt accipere Epistolas and accordingly the 〈◊〉 of that Canon is Inter Canonicas The Decretall Epistles are numbred amongst the Canonicall Scriptures True it iâ— that in the end of the next Canon Gratian addes a good limitation and worth the remembering that this must be vnderstood of such Decrees in which there is nothing found contrary to the Decrees of the Fathers foregoing nor the precepts of the Gospell Belike euen in Gratians time it was not holden impossible that in the Sanctions and Decretals of Popes something might be decreed contrary to the Gospel which may be added to your Iudges infallibility which hath beene touched before But these be old trickes of the Champions of the Papacie At this day perhaps it is better yes and that shall ye vnderstand by the words of the children of the Church of Rome themselues the Venetians But first ye are to know that among certaine Propositions set forth in defence of the state there was one the fourth in number of eight That the authoritie promised by our Sauiour Christ to Saint Peter vnder the metaphor of the Keyes is meerely spirituall For confirmation whereof after other proofe was said that the authoritie of the highest Bishop is ouer sinne and ouer soules onely according to the words of that prayer of the Church about Saint Peter qui B. Petro animas ligandi atque soluendi Pontificium tradidisti Cardinall Bellermine vndertooke to answere these Propositions and comming to this place he saith that peraduenture Gods prouidence to take away such deceipts whereby the author of these Propositions would deceiue the simple with the words of the holy Church misunderstood inspired into the reformers of the Breuiarie that they should take out of that Prayer the word animas as anciently it was not there nor ought to be because that prayer was formed out of the words of the Gospell Quodcunque ligaueris quodcunque solueris Now marke the reioinder that is made to him by Iohannes Marsilius who numbering vp his errors in the defence of euery proposition roundly tels him
Fathers is not perhaps so vsuall as of other Writers and good reason why they know that many looke narrowly to their â—ingers neither is there any place almost that is of speciall pith that hath not beene obserued and vrged in the handling of the controuersies of this age by some one or other yet where there is any colour of differing Copies or any aduantage to bee taken that way it is not slipped And who knowes not that sometimes the change of a Letter yea of a Point or Accent makes the whole sentence of another meaning As for exampleâ— that of Saint Augustine Qui fecit te sine te non iustificat te sine te Read it interrogatiuely and it is as strong for 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 as if it be read assertiuely for Catharâ—â—â— and the 〈◊〉 And in very deede when I consider the eagernesse of these men to win their purposes and their fearfull boldnesse with the holy Word of God I know not how a man should looke for conscience or respect at their hands in the writings of men For to omit that the Trent-Fathers haue canonized the Vulgar Latin Edition which so many times departeth from the originall inspired by the holy Ghost adding detracting changing often to a diuerse sometimes to a contrarie sense To let passe also how Sixtus V. and Clemens VIII doe tyrannize oueâ— and delude the Faith of their followers about that Edition binding them vnto two diuerse Copies and sometimes flat contradictorie and so as the forme of each must bee inuiolably obserued without the least particle of the Text added changed or detracted The former derogating all Faith and authoritie from whatsoeuer Bibles handâ—written or printed of the Vulgar edition which did not agree with that which hee set forth ad verbum ad literam The latter telling that when the same Pope endeuoured to set it out hee perceiued not a few things to haue crept into the holy Bible through the fault of the Presse and that it needed a second care whereupon he decreed to bring the whole worke againe to the Anuile had he not beene preuented by death so derogating all Faith from the â—ormer Whereas the truth is Sixtâ—â— did not onely endeuour to set out his Bible but prefixed his Bull before it ad perpetuam rei memoriam and sent one of the Copies to the State of Venice as I heard at my being there howsoeuer since it was cunningly recouered againe set it to sale publikely and saith in his Bull that he corrected the faults of the Presse with his owne hand and which most of all conuinceth Pope Clements Preface of falshood the difference of these Editions is not in fault of the prints but in that the one followes the old erroneous reading the latter the reading of other Manuscripts acâ—ording with the Hebrew Chaldee Greeke or the Latin edition of the Catholike Kings Bible obserued by the industrie of the Diuines of Loâ—aine But to forbeare to vrge this contradiction in the very foundation of beliefe which some man peraduenture would presse so farre as to inferre that the Romanists haue no faith for hee that beleeues contradictories beleeues nothing What shall we say of that impietie to corrupt the originall Text according to the vulgar Latin See an example hereof in the first promise of the Gospell Gen. 3. where the Serpent is threatned that the seede of the Woman shall crush his head The vulgar Edition leauing here the Hebrew the Seuentie and Saint Hierome himselfe as appeares by his questions vpon Genesis tranâ—â—ates Ipsa Shee shall bruise thy head So it stands now in the authenticall Scripture of the Church of Rome and herein Sixtus and Clemens are of accord The Diuines of Louaine obserue that two Manuscript Copies haue Ipse That the Hebrâ—w Chaldie and Greeke haue it so likewise Why then did not either Sixtus or Clemens or they themselues hauing Copies for it correct it and make it so in the authenticall Text I will tell you By colour of this corruption the Deuill enuying Christs glorie like an obstinate enemie rather yeelding himselfe to any then his true Conqueror hath giuen this honour to the Virgin Mary To her it is attributed in that worke which I thinke to bee the most vngodly and blasphemous that euer saw the Sunne The Ladies Psalter wherein that which is spoken of God by the Spirit of God is writhed to her In the 51. Psalme Quid gloriaris in malitia ô maligne Serpens c. Why boastest thou in malice ô thou malignant Serpent and infernall Dragon Submit thy head to the Woman by whose valour thou shalt be drowned in the deepe Crush him ô Lady with the foot of thy valour arise and scatter his malice c. And in the 52. speaking to the same Serpent Noli extolli c. Bee not lifted vp for the fall of the Woman for a Woman shall crush thy head c. So in that Anthem Haec est mulier virtutis quae contriâ—it caput Serpentis Yea which I write with griefe and shame to her doth good Bernard apply it Hom. 2. super Missus est and which is more strange expounds it not of her bearing our Sauiour but Ipsa proculdubio c. Shee doubtlesse crushed that poisonfull head which brought to nought all manner of suggestion of that wicked one both of temptation of the flesh and of pride of minde To her doth the learned and deuout Chancelor of Paris apply it Has pestes vniuersas dicimus membra Serpentis antiqui cuiuâ— caput ipsa virgo contriuit And what maruell in those times when the plaine Text of the Scripture ran so in the foeminine gender of a woman and few or none had any skill of the Greeke or Hebrew Who should that SHEE be but shee that is blessed among women Now although that thankes be to God it is knowne that this is a corrupt place out of the Fountains yea out of the Riuers also the testimonies of the Fathers referring this to Christ as Irenaaus Iustine Cyprian Clemens Alexandrinus Hierome yea Pope Leo himselfe yet because no error of the Church of Rome may bee acknowledged how palpable soeuer they haue cast how to shadow this corruption and set some colour vpon it that howsoeuer this reading cannot bee true yet it may bee made like to truth Loe in the Interlinear Bible set forth by the authoritie of King Philip the father of his Majestie that now reignes with you the Hebrew Text is reformed according to the Latine IPSA There was some opportunitie hereunto by reason that the Letters of the Text without pricks would beare both readings For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hu or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hiu And this selfe-same word for the Letters the base of reading is so pointed in this Chapter verse 19. and applied to Eue Shee is the mother of all liuing And so elsewhere as Gen. 28. 1. and 21. Hereunto
to bee an euasion of Protestants THe first whereof is the dislike of the Protestants euasion as you call it by the inuisibilitie of their Church Giue mee leaue here to tell you plainly yee seeme to mee not to vnderstand the Protestants doctrine in this point Else yee would haue spared all that The Catholike Church must euer be visible as a Citie set on a hill otherwise how should shee teach her children conuert Pagans dispence Sacraments All this is yeelded with both hands The Congregations of which the Catholike Church doth consist are visible But the promise made to this Church of victory against the gates of hell the titles of the house of God the base and piller of Truth an allusion as I take it to the bases and pillers that held vp the veile or curtaines in the Tabernacle the body of Christ his Doue his vndefiled are not verified of this Church in the whole visible bulke of it but in those that are called according to Gods purpose giuen to Christ and kept by him to bee raised vp to life at the last day This doctrine is Saint Augustines in many placeâ— which it would bee too tedious to set downe at large In his third booke De doctrina Christiana among the rules of Tychonius there is one which hee corrects a little for the tearmes De Domini corpore bipertito which he saith ought not to haue beene called so for in truth that is not the Lords body which shal not be with him for euer but he should haue said of the Lords true body and mixt or true and fained or some such thing Because not onely for euer but euen now hypocrites are not to be said to be with him though they seeme to be in his Church Consider those resemblances taken out of the holy Scripture wherein that godly Father is frequent of chaffe and wheat in the Lords floore of good and bad fishes in the net of spots and light in the Moone Of the Church carnall and spirituall of the wicked multitudes of the Church yet not to be accounted in the Church Of the lilly and the thornes those that are marked which mourne for the sinnes of Gods people and the rest which perish which yet beare his Sacraments Consider the last Chapter of the booke De Vnitate Ecclesiae and that large Treatise which he hath of that matter Epist. 48. The place is long which deserues to bee read for the obiection of the Vniuersality of Arianisme like to that of Papisme in these last ages which Saint Augustine answeres in the fifth booke De Baptismo contra Donatistas cap. 27. That number of the iust who are called according to Gods purpose of whom it is said The Lord knoweth who are his is the inclosed garden the sealed fountaine the well of liuing waters the orchard with Apples c. The like hee hath l. 5. c. 3. 23. he concludes that because such are built vpon the Rocke as heare the Word of God and doe it and the rest vpon the sand now the Church is built vpon the Rocke all therefore that heare the Word of God and doe it not are out of question without the Church In the seuenth booke cap. 51. Quibus omnibus consideratisâ— Read and marke the whole Chapter Out of these and many more like places which I forbeare to mention it appeares that albeit the true Catholike Church is such as cannot bee hid yet considering that it consists of two sorts of people the one which is the greater part who doe not indeed properly belong to it the other the fewer truely and properly so called to whom all the glorious things spoken of the Church doe agree The face therefore of the mixt Church may be ouer-run with scandals as in all times almost The greatest number may sometime bee Idolaters as in the Kingdome of Israel vnder Achab. The principallest in authoritie may bee false teachers as the Priests and Prophets in Ieremies time the sonnes of pestilence may sit in Moses Chaire as they did in Christs time Yet still the Church is the ground and piller of Truth in the Elect Ipsa est praedestinata columna firmamentum veritatis The Sheepe heare not Seducers Iohn 10. 8. to wit finally and in any damnable point Thus was it before Christ thus since thus in the Church of England before yea and since it was reformed Thus in that of Rome it selfe at this day There is a distinction of Thomas of those that be in the Church which rightly â— interpreted agrees fully herewith There are some De Ecclesia numero tantum Some numero merito The former are such as haue onely fidem informem the latter formatam Now though the persons of such as be in the Church be visible yet the Faith and Charitie of men wee see not and to argue from the priuiledges of the Church numero merito to the Church numero tantum is a perpetuall but a palpable paraâ—ogisme of the Romish faction which is grosser yet when they argue to the Church representatiue and grossest of all when one man is made the Church and he as themselues grant may fall out a Deuill incarnate CHAP. IX Of lacke of Vniformitie in matters of Faith in all ages and places ANd in this selfe same Paralogisme you were beguiled with in the next point of Vniformitie and concord in matters of Faith The true Church yee say â—uer holds such Vniformitie It is vtterly false in the Visible and mixt Church both before Christ and since It is false in the Church of Rome it selfe whose new-coyned faith patched to the Creed by Pius the Fourth came in peece-meale out of priuate opinions and corrupt vsages nor euer was in any age vniformely holden or taught as matter of Faith euen in it as it is at this day So by your owne discourse it should be no true Church And taking matters of faith so largely as it seemes you doe in opposition to such things as bee cerâ—mâ—nies or of gouernment it is vntrue also of the Church of the Elect or properly so called For though the Faith in the principles thereof bee euer the same yet many conclusions of Faith haue sometimes lien vnsearched out and like some parts of the world vnknowne till by the industrie of Gods seruants occasioned also by the importunitie and opposition of Heretikes they were discouered Sundrie common errours also there haue beene which in succeeding ages haue beene cleered and reformed as the â—hiliastes That Angels haue bodies That children after they be baptized are to be communicated That Heretikes are to be rebaptized To the Assumption First the Protestants challenge not to themselues any Church as their owne which I must aduertise you of here because formerly also you doe vse this phrase The Church is Christs both the visible and inuisible Next taking matters of Faith for foundations or articles of Faith necessarie to saluation the Church of Christ hath in all ages had
vniforme concord with the Protestants at this day in such matters as appeareth by the common rule of Faith the Creede and so hath also the Church vnder the Popes tyrannie As to the Trent-additions they are forraine to the Faith as neither principles nor conclusions thereof neither can your selues shew vniforme consent and concord in them and namely in the 11. of them in any one age especially as matters of saluation as now they are canonized How much lesse can yee shew it in all other conclusions of Faith whereabout there haue beene among you as are now among vs and euer will bee differences of opinions without any prejudice for all that vnto the vnitie of the Faith of the Church and title to the name of it As for Wicliffe Hus and the rest if they haue any of them borne record to the Truth and resisted any innouation of corrupt Teachers in their times euen to bloud they are iustly to be termed Martyrs yea albeit they saw not all corruptions but in some were themselues carried away with the streame of error Else if because they erred in some things they bee no Martyrs or because wee dissent from them in some things we are not of the same Church both you and we must quit all claime to Saint Cyprian Iustine Martyr and many more whom wee count our Ancients and Predecessors and bereaue them also of the honour of Martyrdome which so long they haue enjoyed You see I hope by this time the weaknesse of your Argument CHAP. X. Of the originall of reformation in Luther Caluin Scotland England c. IN your next Motiue taken from the originall of Reformation before I come to answere your Argument shortly coucht in forme I must endeuour to reforme your iudgement in sundrie points of storie wherein partly you are misse-led and abused by Parsons and others of that spirit partly you haue mistaken some particulars and out of a false imagination framed a like discourse First for Luther it was not his ranâ—our against the Dominicans that stirred him vp against the Pope but the shamefull merchandize of Indulgences set to sale in Germanie to the aduantage of Magdalen sister to Pope Leo X. Beleeue herein if not Sleidan yet Gâ—â—cciardine l. 13. And of all that mention those affaires it is acknowledged that at the first and for a good time he shewed all obedience and reuerence to the Pope The new Historie of the Councell of Trent written by an Italian a subiect and part of the Church of Rome as should appeare by the Epistle Dedicatorie of the Reuerend and learned Archbishop of Spalato prefixed to his Maiestie speaketh thus of the matter Questo diede occasione c. This gaue occasion to Martin to passe from Indulgences to the authoritie of the Pope which being by others proclaymed for the highest in the Church by him was made subiect to a Generall Councell lawfully celebrated Whereof hee said that there was neede in that instant and vrgent necessitie And as the heat of disputation continued by how much the more the Popes power was by others exalted so much the more was it by him abased yet so as Martin contayned himselfe within the termes of speaking modestly of the person of Leo and sauing sometimes his iudgement Againe After his departure from the presence of Cardinall Cajetan at Augusta hee saith hee wrote a letter to the Cardinall confessing that hee had beene too vehement and excusing himselfe by the importunitie of the Pardoners and of those that had written against him promising to vse more modestie in time to come to satisfie the Pope and not to speake any more of Indulgences prouided that his aduersaries would doe the like This was Luthers manner at the first till the Bull of Pope Leo came out dated the ninth of Nouember 1518. Wherein he declared the validitie of Indulgences and that hee as Peters Successor and Christs Vicar had power to grant them for the quicke and dead that this is the doctrine of the Church of Rome the Mother and Mistris of all Christians and ought to bee receiued of all that would bee in the Communion of the Church From this time forward Luther began to change his stile And saith he as before hee had for the most part reserued the person and iudgement of the Pope so after this Bull he resolued to refuse it and thereupon put forth an Appeale to the Councell c. You see then how submissiuely Luther at first carried himself But extreme tyrannie ouer-comes often a well prepared patience Touching his causing rebellion also against the Emperour yee are misse-informed his aduice was asked about the association of the Protestants at Smalcald hee said plainly hee could not see how it could bee lawfull further then for their owne defence Ioh. Bodin in his second Booke de Repub cap. 5. hath these wordes We reade also that the Protestant Princes of Almaine before they tooke armes against the Emperour demanded of Martin Luther if it were lawfull He answered freely that it was not lawfull whatsoeuer tyrannie or impietie were pretended He was not beleeued so the end thereof was miserable and drew after it the ruine of great and illustrious houses of Germanie As for the warre in Germanie it began not till after Luthers death neither was it a rebellion of the Protestants the truth is they stood for their liues The Emperour with the helpe of the Popes both mony and armes intended to roote them out and although at the first the Emperour did not auow his raysing armes against them to be for Religion yet the Pope in his Iubilee published vpon this occasion did not let to declare to the world that himselfe and Caesar had concluded a league to reduce the Hâ—retikes by force of armes to the obedience of the Church and therefore all should pray for the good successe of the warre That Luther euer reuiled the Emperour I did neuer till now heare or reade and therefore would desire to know what authors you haue for it Touching other Princes namely King Henrie the eighth I will not defend him who condemned himselfe thereof It is true that he was a man of a bold and high stomacke and specially fitted thereby through the prouidence of God to worke vpon the heauie and dull disposition of the Almaines and in so generall a Lethargie as the world then was in hee carried himself as fell out somtimes very â—oisterously But arrogancie schâ—sme rebellion were as farre from him as the intention itself to plant a Church As to his Vow-breaking lastly if that Vow were foolishly made and sinfully kept it was iustly broken perhaps also charitably if hee would by his owne example reforme such as liued in whoredome and other vncleannes and induce them to vse the remedie that God hath appointed for the auoiding of them to wit honorable marriage All this matter touching Luther vnlesse I be â—eceiued you haue taken from 〈◊〉 Harding that at least touching his
insist for the present but admitting it as true that wickednesse of mens persons doth not impeach the holinesse of their functions which they haue receiued of God nor make Gods ordinances as his Word and Sacraments of none effect But tell me for Gods loue Master Waddesworth is it likely that this Monarchie thus sought thus gotten thus kept thus exercised is of God Are these men that wholly forsaking the feeding of the flocke of God dreame of nothing now but Crowns and Scepterâ— serue to the Church to no vse in the world vnlesse it be to breake the ancient Canons and oppresse with their power all that shall but vtter a free word against their ambition and tyrannie are they I will not say with you good heads of Gods Church but members of it and not rather limbes of Satan Consider those Texts My Kingdome is not of this world Vos autem non sic Consider the charge which Saint Peter giues to his fellow Presbyters 1. Pet. 5. 2 3 4. Now I beseech our Lord deliuer his Church from this tyrannie and blesse you from being a member of such a Head CHAP. XI Of lacke of succession Bishops true Ordinations Ordâ—rs Priesthood I Come now to your motiue from succession Where I maruell first that leauing the succession of Doctrine which is farre more proper and intrinsecall to the Churches being you stand vpon that of Persons and Offices Yea and about them too immediately passe from that which is of Essence to the externall formalities in consecration and ordination according to the ancient Councels Haue you forgotten what you said right now that matters of ceremonie and gouernment are changeable Yea but in France Holland and Germanie they haue no Bishops First what if I should defend they haue because a Bishop and a Presbyter are all one as Saint Ierome maintaines and prooues out of holy Scripture and the vse of Antiquitie Of which iudgement as Medina confesseth are sundrie of the ancient Fathers both Greeke and Latineâ— Saint Ambrose Augustine Seduliuâ— Primasius Chrysostome Theodorit Oecumenius and Theophylact which point I haue largely treated of in another place against him that vndertooke Master Alablasters quarrell Besides those Churches in Germanie haue those whom they call Superintendents and generall Superintendents as out of Doctor Bancroft by the testimonie of Zanchius and sundrie Germane Diuines you might perceiue Yea and where these are not as in Geneua and the French Churches yet there are saith Zanchius â—sually certaine chiefe men that doe in a manner beare all the sway as if order it selfe and necessitie led them to this course And what are these but Bishops indeede vnlesse wee shall wrangle about names which for reason of State those Churches were to abstaine from As for that you say Lay men intermedâ—le there with the making of their Ministers if you meane the election of them they haue reason for anciently the people had alwayes a right therein as Saint Cyprian writes to the Churches of Leon and Astorga there in Spaine Plebs ipsa maxime habet potestatem vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi and in sundrie places of Italie this vsage doth continue to this day If yee meane it in Ordination yee are deceiued and wrong these Churches as Bellarmine himselfe will teach you lib. De Clâ—ricis cap. 3. For amongst the Lutherans and Caluinists also saith hee which haue taken away almost all Ecclesiasticall rites they onely lay on hands and make Pastors and Ministers who though they be not Pastors and Bishops indeede would be so accounted and called In England you misse first the lesser orders and say we are made Ministers per saltum as if all that are made Priests among you were Psalmists Sextens Readers Exâ—rcists Torch-bearers Subdeacons and Deacons before Remember I pray what the Master of the Sentences saith of Deaconship and Priesthood Hos solos primitiuâ— Ecclesia legitur habuisse de his solis praeceptum Apostoli habemus Hee meanes in the Epistles to Tâ—â—othy and Titus Againe Subdiaeonos vere Acolythos precedeâ—te tempore Ecclesia sibi constituit What and were the Primitiue and Apostolike Churches no true Churches or neede wee to bee ashamed to bee like them Besides those Councels that yee speake of it should seeme were of no great either antiquitie or authoritie when not onely Presbyters without passing through any order but Bishops without being so much as baptized were ordayned As Nectarius of Constantinople Synesius of Cyrene Ambrose of Millaine Constantine II. of Rome it selfe This therefore is a very sleight exception Your next is well worse touching the Ordination at the Nags-head where the Consecration of our first Bishops as you say was attempted but not effected It is certaine you say and you are sure there was such a matter although you know and haue seene the records themselues that afterward there was a Consecration of Doctor Parker at Lambeth Alas Master Wadesworth if you bee resolued to beleeue lies not onely against publike Acts and your owne eye-sight but against all probabilitie who can helpe it I had well hoped to haue found that ingenuitie in you that I might haue vsed your testimony vnto others of that side touching the vanitie of this fable as hauing shewed you the Copie of the record of Doctor Parkers consecration which I had procured to bee transcribed out of the Acts which your selfe also at your returne from London told mee you saw in a blacke Booke Now I perceiue by your perplexed writing and enterlining in this part of your Letter you would faine discharge your conscience and yet vphold this lie perhaps as loth to offend that side where you now are and therefore you haue deuised this temper that the one was attempted the other effected But it will not bee For first of all if that at the Nags-head were but attempted what is that to the purpose of our Ordinations which are not deriued from it but from the other which as you say was effected at Lambeth And are you sure there was such a matter How are you sure Were you present there in person or haue you heard it of those that were present Neither of both I suppose but if it were so that some bodie pretending to haue beene there present told you so much how are you sure that hee lied not in saying so much more when you haue it but at the third or fourth hand perhaps the thirtieth or fortieth But consider a little is it probable that men of that sort in an action of that importance and at the beginning of the Queenes reigne when especially it concerned both them and her to prouide that all things should bee done with reputation would bee so hastie and heedlesse as to take a Tauerne for a Church Why might they not haue gone to the next Church as well They thought to make the old Catholike Bishop drunken Thus the Wisbich and Framyngham Priests were wont to tell the tale Is it likely that
whose words are these I will not determine against the succession of the Clergie in England because it is to mee very doubtfull And the discretion of Cudsemius the Iesuire which denies the English Nation to be Heretickes because they remaine in a perpetuall succession of Bishops And to take away all doubt from you that some of these Ordayners were onely Bishops elect and vnconsecrated besides Miles Couerdale in King Edwards time Bishop of Exceter cast in prison by Queene Mary and released and sent ouer Sea to the King of Denmarke know that William Barlow was another in King Edwards dayes Bishop of Bath and Welles in Queene Maries beyond the Seas in the companie of the Duchesse of Suffolke and Master Bâ—rtie her husband at the time of Doctor Parkers ordination Elect of Chichester A third was Iohn Scorie in King Edwards time Bishop of Chichester and at the time of the said ordination Elect of Hereford A fourth was Iohn Hodgeskin Suffragan of Bedford And these foure if they were all ordained according to the forme ratified in King Edwards dayes were presented by two Bishops at least to the Archbishop and of him and them receiued imposition of hands as in the said forme is appointed One scruple yet remaines which you haue in that these men did consecrate Doctor Parker by vertue of a Breue from the Queene as head of the Church who being no true head and a woman you see not how they could make a true consecrationr grounded on her authoritie But to cleare you in this also you must vnderstand the Queenes mandate serued not to giue power to ordaine which those Bishops had before inâ—rinsecally annexed to their office but leaue and warrant to apply that power to the person named in that Mandate A thing vnlesse I haue beene deceiued by reports vsed in other Countries yea in the Kingdomes of his Catholike Maiestie himselfe Sure I am by the Christian Emperours in the primitiue Church as you may see in the Ecclesiasticall histories and namely in the ordination of Nectarius that I spake of before Yea which is more in the consecration of the Bishops of Rome as of Leo VIII whose Decree with the Synode at Rome touching this matter is set downe by Gratian Dist. 63. c. 23. taken from the example of Hadriaâ— and another Councell which gaue to Charles the Great Ius potestatem eligendi Pontificem ordinandi Apostolicam sedom as you may see in the Chapter next before See the same Dist. c. 16. 17. 18. and you shall finde that when one was chosen Bishop of Reate within the Popes owne Prouince by the Clergie and people and sent to him by Guido the Count to be consecrated the Pope durst not doe it till the Emperours licence were obtained Yea that hee writes to the Emperour for Colonus that receiuing his licence hee might consecrate him either there or in the Church of Tusculum which accordingly vpon the Emperors bidding he performed Yet another exception you take to the making our Ministers that wee keepe not the right intention First because we neither giue nor take Orders as a Sacrament By that reason we should haue no true marriages amongst vs neither because we count not Matrimonie a Sacrament This Controuersie depends vpon the definition of a Sacrament which if it be put to be a signe of a holy thing these be both so and a many more then seuen If a seale of the New Testament so are there but those two which we properly call Sacraments Baptisme and the Lords Supper In which last as to the intention of sacrificing surely if yee allow the doctrine of the Master of the Sentences that it is called a Sacrifice and Oblation which is offered and consecrated by the Priest because it is a memorie and representation of the true Sacrifice and holy immolation made on the Altar of the Crosse. And that Christ once dyed on the Crosse and there was offered vp in himselfe but is daily offered vp in a Sacrament because in the Sacrament there is a remembrance of that which waâ— once done which he there confirmes by the authorities of the Fathers cited by Gratian in the Canon Law If this Doctrine I say may yet passe for good and this bee the Churches intention wee want not this intention of sacrificing Adde to this the confession of Melchior Canus who saith the Lutherans doe not wholly denie the sacrifice but grant a Sacrifice of thanks giuing which they call the Eucharist they will haue none for sinne which they call propitiatorie If he had put hereto vnlesse it bee in a mysterie hee had rightly expressed the opinion of the Protestants Thirdly yee object wee want the matter and forme with which orders should be giuen namely for the matter in Priesthood the deliuerie of the Patena with bread and the Chalice with wine in Deaconship the deliuerie of the booke of the Gospell c. By which reason the seuen first Deacons had no true ordination for then there was no Gospell written to be deliuered them Nor those Priests whom the Pope shall make by his sole word saying Esto Sacerdos Whom notwithstanding sundrie famous Canonists hold to bee well and lawfully ordained and Innocentius himselfe saith that if these formes of Ordination were not found out any other Ordainer might in like manner make Priests with those words or the like for as much as these formes were in processe of time appointed by the Church And if wee list to seeke for these Metaphysicall notions of matter and forme in Ordination which at the most can bee but by Analogie how much better might wee assigne the persons deputed to sacred functions to be the matter as those that contract are by your selues made the matter in matrimonie and the imposing of hands with the expressing the authoritie and office giuen to bee the forme In Dionysius though falsly called the Areopagite yet an ancient Author yee shall finde nothing else nor which I may tell you by the way any other orders saue Bishops Priests and Deacons And to come to that wherein you say wee faile most of all the substantiall forme of Priesthood tell mee ingenuously good Master Wadesworth how doe you know that our Lord Iesus Christ made his Apostles or they others Priests with this forme which hath no mention or footstep in the Gospell or otherwhere in holy Scripture Nor so much as in the Councell of Carthage that from whence the manner of giuing other orders is fetched nor in Gratian nor in any other ancient Author that I can finde saue in the Pontificall onely And is the present Pontificall of such authoritie with you as the forme of Priesthood the substantiall forme can subsist in no other wordes then those that bee there expressed To omit the late turkesing whereof consider what Augustinus Patritius writes in his Preface before that which at Pope Innocent VIII his commandement he patched together That
lesser Orders and Subdeaconship according to the Master of the Sentences were instituted by the Church 3. The Deacons instituted by the Apostles Act. 6. were not Deacons of the Altar but of the Tables Widdowes 4. In Deaconship there seemes to be no certain forme for according to the old Pontificals the laying of hands vpon the Deacon hath no certaine forme of words but that prayer Emitte qâ—aesumus in eos S. Sauctum which according to the new Pontificals is to be said after the imposition of hands For the giuing of the Booke of the Gospels hath indeede a forme of words but that impresseth not the Character for before any Gospell was written the Apostles ordained Deacons by imposition of hands 5. In the Subdeaconship also there is no Pontificall which hath not the matter without forme viz. the deliuery of the emptie Chalice c. These things with more which hee there sets downe he would haue to serue to the instruction of the learned touching the vncertaintie of this whole matter to â—each men to be wise to sobrietie that is euery man to be content with the accustomed Pontificall of the Church wherein he is ordained And if ought be omitted of those things which be added out of the new Pontificals as for example that the Booke of the Epistles was not giuen with those words Take authoritie to reade the Epistles as well for the quicke as the dead there is no neede of supplying this omission by a new ordination for such new additions make no new law Learne then of your owne Caietane that the new additions of deliuery of the Chalice with wine and Paten with Hosts and authoritie to offer sacrifice for the quick and dead make no new Law Learn to be content with the Pontificall of the Church wherein you were ordained Wherein first is verbatim all that which your Pontificals had well taken out of the holy words of our Sauiour Accipe Spiritum Sanctum quorum remisseris peccata remittuntur eis quorum retinueris retenta sunt Which me thinkes you should rather account to containe the essentiall forme of Priesthood then the former both because they are Christs owne words and ioyned with that ceremonie of laying on hands which anciently denominated this whole action and do expresse the worthiest and principallest part of your Commission which the Apostle cals the Ministry of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 18. 19. Then because this office is not onely deputed to consecrate the Lords body but also to preach baptize which in your Pontificall is wholly omitted in a larger and more conuenient forme is added out of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 4. 1. and be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word of God and of his holy Sacraments In the name of the Father c. As to that you adde that we offer no sacrifice for the quicke and dead and therefore well may be called Ministers as all lay men are but are no Priests I haue met with sundry that pull this roape as strongly the other way and affirme that because by the very forme of your ordination you are appointed Sacrificers for the quicke and dead well may ye be Masse-Priests as ye are called but Ministers of the New Testament after S. Pauls phrase ye are none For that office stands principally in preaching the word whereof in your ordination there is no word said And as little there is in Scripâ—ure of your sacrifice which makes Christ not to be a Priest after the order of Melchisedech c. with much more to this purpose Where my defence for your Ministrie hath beene this that the forme Receiue the holy Ghost whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted c. doth sufficiently comprehend the authoritie of preaching the Gospell Vse you the same equitie toward vs and tell those hot spirits among you that stand so much vpon formalities of words that to be a dispenser of the word of God and his holy Sacraments is all the dutie of Priesthood And to you I adde further that if you consider well the words of the Master of the Sentences which I vouched before how that which is consecrated of the Priest is called a Sacrifice and oblation because it is a memoriall and representation of the true sacrifice and holy offering made on the altar of the Crosse and ioyne there to that of the Apostle that by that one offering Christ hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified and as he saith in another place through that bloud of his Crosse reconciled vnto God all things whether in earth or in heauen you shall perceiue that we do offer sacrifice for the quick and dead remembring representing mystically offering that sole Sacrifice for the quicke and dead by the which all their fins are meritoriously expiated and desiring that by the same wee and all the Church may obtaine remission of sinnes and all other benefits of Christs passion To the Epilogue therefore of this your last motiue I say in short Sith we haue no neede of Subdeaconship more then the Churches in the Apostles times in truth those whom wee call Clerkes and Sextens performe what is necessarie in this behalfe Sith we haue Canonicall Bishops and lawfull succession Sith we neither want due intention to depute men to Ecclesiasticall functions nor matter or forme in giuing Priesthood deriuing from no man or woman the authoritie of ordination but from Christ the head of he Church yee haue alleadged no sufficient cause why we should not haue true Pastors and consequently a true Church in England CHAP. XII Of the Conclusion Master Waddesworths agonies and protestation c. YEt by these you say and many other arguments you were resolued in your vnderstanding to the contrary It may well be that your vnderstanding out of it owne heedlesse haste as that of our first Parents while it was at the perfectest was induced into errour by resoluing too soone out of seeming arguments and granting too forward assent For surely these which you haue mentioned could not conuince it if it would haue taken the paines to examine them throughly or had the patience to giue vnpartiall hearing to the motiues on the other side Buâ— as if you triumphed in your owne conquest and captiuitie you adde that which passeth yet all that hitherto you haue set downe viz. That the Church of Rome was and is the onely true Church because it alone is Ancient Catholike and Apostolike hauing succession vnitie and visibilitie in all ages and places Is it onely ancient To omit Hierusalem are not that of Antioch where the Disciples were first called Christians and Alexandria Ephesus Corinth and the rest mentioned in the Scriptures ancient also and of Antioch ancienter then Rome Is it Catholike and Apostolike onely Doe not these and manie more hold the Catholike faith receiued from the Apostles as well as the Church of Rome For that it should be the Vniuersall Church is all one as yee would say the part is the
whole one Citie the world Hath it onely succession where to set aside the inquirie of Doctrine so manie Simoniacks and intruders haue ruled as about fiftie of your Popes together were by your owne mens confession Apostaticall rather then Apostolicall Or Vnitie where there haue beene thirtie Schismes and one of them which endured fiftie yeares long and at last grew into three heads as if they would share among them the triple Crowne And as for diffentions in Doctrine I remit you to Master Doctor Halls peace of Rome wherein hee scores aboue three hundred mentioned in Bellarmine alone aboue threescore in one onely head of Penance out of Nauarrus As to that addition in all ages and places I know not what to make of it nor wherâ—o to refer it Consider I beseech you with your wonted moderation what you say for sure vnlesse you were beguâ—led I had almost said bewitched you could neuer haue resolued to beleeue and professe that which all the world knowes to be as false I had welnigh said as God is true touching the extent of the Romish Church to all ages and places Concerning the agonies you passed I will say onely thus much if being resolued though erroniously that was truth you were withholden from professing it with worldly respects you did well to breake through them all But if besides these there were doubt of the contrarie as me thinks needes must be vnlesse you could satisfie your selfe touching those many and knowne exceptions against the Court of Rome which you could not be ignorant of take heede lest the rest insuing these agonies were not like Sampsons sleeping on Dalâ—lahs knees while the locks of his strength were shauen whereupon the Lord departing from him he was taken by the Philistims had his eyes put out and was made to grinde in the prison But I doe not despaire but your former resolutions shall grow againe And as I doe beleeue your religious asseueration that for very feare of damnation you forsooke vs which makes mee to haue the better hope and opinion of you for that I see you doe so seriously minde that which is the end of our whole life so I desire from my heart the good hope of saluation you haue in your present way may be as happie as your feare I am perswaded was causelesse For my part I call God to record against mine owne soule that both before my going into Italie and since I haue still endeauoured to finde and follow the truth in the points controuerted betweene vs without any earthly respect in the world Neither wanted I faire opportunitie had I seene it on that side easily and with hope of good entertainment to haue adioyned my selfe to the Church of Rome after your example But to vse your words as I shall answere at the dreadfull day of iudgement I neuer saw heard or read any thing which did conuince me nay which did not finally confirme me daily more and more in the perswasion that in these differences it rests on our part Wherein I haue not followed humane coniectures from forraine and outward things as by your leaue mee thinkes you doe in these your motiues whereby I protest to you in the sight of God I am also much comforted and assured in the possession of the truth but the vndoubted voice of God in his word which is more to my conscience then a thousand Topicall Arguments In regard whereof I am no lesse assured that if I should forsake it I should be renounced by our Sauiour before God and his Angels then in the holding it be acknowledged and saued which makes me resolue not onely for no hope if it were of 10000. worlds but by the gracious assistance of God without whom I know I am able to doe nothing for no terrour or torment euer to become a Papist You see what a large distance there is betweene vs in opinion Yet for my part I doe not take vpon me to foreiudge you or anie other that doth not with an euill minde and selfe condemning conscience onely to maintaine a faction differ from that which I am perswaded is the right I account we hold one and the same faith in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ and by him in the blessed Trinitie To his iudgement we stand or fall Incomparably more and of more importance are those things wherein wee agree then those wherin we dissent Let vs follow therefore the things of peace and of mutuall edification If any be otherwise minded then he ought God shall reueale that also to him If any be weake or fallen God is able to raiâ—e him vp And of you good M. Waddesworth and the rest of my Masters and Brethren of that side one thing I would againe desire that according to the Aposiles profession of himselfe you would forbeare to be Lords ouer our Faith nor straightway condemne of heresie our ignorance or lacke of perswasion concerning such things as wee cannot perceiue to be founded in holy Scripture Enioy your owne opinions but make them not Articles of our Faith the analogie whereof is broken as well by addition as subtraction And this selfe same equitie we desire to find in positiue Lawes Orders and Ceremonies Wherein as euerie Church hath full right to prescribe that which is decent and to edification and to reforme abuse so those that are members of each are to follow what is enioyned till by the same authoritie it be reuersed And now to close vp this Account of yours whereof you would haue Doctor Hall and me to be as it were examiners and Auditors Whether it be perfect and allowable or no looke you to it I haue here told you mine opinion of it as directly plainely and freely as I can and as you required fully if not tediously I list not to contend with you about it Satisfie your owne conscience and our common Lord and Master and you shall easily satisfie me Once yet by my aduice review it and cast it ouer againe And if in the particulars you finde you haue taken manie nullities for signifying numbers manie smaller signifiers for greater correct the totall If you finde namely that out of desire of Vnitie and dislike of contention you haue apprehended our diuersities to be more then they are conceiued a necessitie of an externall infallible Iudge where there was none attributed the priuiledge of the Church properly called to that which is visible and mixt If you finde the reformed Churches more charitable the proper note of Chists sheepe The Roman faction more fraudulent and that by publike counsell and of politicke purpose in framing not onely all later writers but some ancient yea the holy Scriptures for their aduantage If you finde you haue mistaken the Protestants doctrine touching inuisibilitie your own also touching vniformitie in matters of Faith If you haue beene misinformed and too haâ—â—ie of credit touching the imputations laid to the beginners of reformation For as touching the want of Succession and the
are matters of Faith For both Faith hath to doe with them and they are fetched by discourse from the first Principles holden by Faith whence our whole Religion is called by Saint Iude the Faith once deliuered to the Saints And the least error in them by consequence ouerthrowes the same principles whence they are deduced That makes some to mooue attention in their Readers to say The questions are not about small matters but of the principall Articles of Religion euen about the foundation As Cuâ—aeus whom he cites saith the question is of two Articles of Faith First of that which teacheth that in Christ two natures are vnited Secondly of the Article He ascended into Heauen Why doe not both sides agree to these Yes But one side fetches arguments against vbiquitie from these places and thereupon saith the question is about these Articles perhaps also chargeth the other to denie them Hee cites Pappus writing thus Agitur inter nos de Omnipotentia Dei c. The controuersie betwixt vs is about the Omnipotencie of God The personall vnion of the two natures in Christ. The communication of properties The glorious body of our Sauiour c. Loe againe euery place of argument or defence is made the matter of Controuersie Out of these and such like confessions on either side my namelesse Aduersarie will needes enforce with great pompe and triumph what thinke yee That such sanctified men this is his scoffing language goe not together by the eares for Moon-shine in the water Againe That all those Myrmidonian fights and bloudie encounters bee not de lanâ Caprinâ aut de vmbrâ asini Why who said they were I will set downe here my wordes that you may iudge of the conscience of this man and haue with all the substance of my answere to this obiection And what if some outragious spirits on each side transâ—ported with passion in their oppositions haue vsed most bitter and vnbeseeming speeches to their Aduersaries and sometimes haue shewed each other small humanitie are you so simple as not to discerne betweene the choller of some few opinionate men and the consequence of their opinions Haue you forgotten Saint Hierome and Ruffinus deadly foe-hood which was rung ouer the world or Epiphanius and Chrysostomes or Victors and the Greeke Bishops which proceeded so farre about a trifle that hee excommunicated them which is little lesse I thinke then to condemne to the pit of Hell And yet if I should put it to your iudgement I am perswaded you would grant they held all truth necessarie to saluation For you must remember Pope Boniface had not yet coyned the new Article of the Faith that I mentioned before What shall I speake of Saint Paul and Barnabas which grew to such bitternesse and that about a very little question of conueniency that though they were sent out together by the Holy Ghost they brake off companie These be humane passions which wisedome would we should pittie when they grow to such extremities vpon so small cause rather then from their outrage to gather there is iust cause to encrease Doe we not see that euen naturall brethren doe sometimes defie one another and vse each other with lesse respect then strangers Now from hence would you conclude they bee not brethren and hearten them on and say to the one that sith his halfe brother is not so neere to him as he with whom he is thus at oddes hee must fall out worse with him You should well so deserue the hate of God for a make-hate betweene brethren These were all my wordes set downe in answere to his obiecting our owne contentions and condemning each other to proue that therefore we could not hold continuitie with the ancient Church of England from which we dissented much more I held as you may perceiue that neither amongst our selues nor from our predecessors wee disagree in any truth necessarie to saluation Hee makes me to say our dissentions are about Moone shine and de vmbrâ asini de laâ—â caprinâ and trâ—fles and matters of no consequence To returne to you good Master Waddesworth let men auouch as confidently as they will touching their owne positions Est de Fide Nâ—hil certius apud Catholicos and of their contraries crie out They are Heretikes renew ancient heresies race the foundation denie the Articles of the Creede Gods â—â—â—ipoteney c. all because themselues by discourse can as they thinke fasten such things vpon them A sober Christian must not giue heede to all that is said in this kinde These things must be examined with right iudgement and euer with much charitie and patience remembring that our selues know in part and prophesie in part In a wordâ— this should not haue so much disquieted you Nor yet that which you adde That euery one pretends Scripture Best of all saith Saint Chrysostome For if wee should say we beleeue humane reasons thou mightest with good reason 〈◊〉 troubled but when as we receiue the 〈◊〉 and they bee simple and true it will 〈…〉 thing for 〈◊〉 to iâ—dge c. And to what purpose indeed serues the facultie of â—â—â—son perfected and polished with learning wherefore the supernaturall light of Faith wherefore the gift of God in vs Ministers conâ—erred by the imposition of hands but 〈◊〉 which side handles the Word of God deceitfully which sincerely But here againe Each side arrogates the Holy Ghost in his fauour What then If wee our selues haue the anointing we shall be able as we are bidden to trie the spirits whether they bee of God or no For wee will not bâ—leeue them because they say they haue the Spirit or cannot bee deceiued but because their Doctrine is consonant to the principles of heauenly Truth which by the writings inspired by himselfe the Holy Ghost hath grauen in our hearts Which writings are well acknowledged by you to be the Law and Rule according whereunto in iudgement of Religion we must proceede CHAP. III. Of the want of a humane externall infallible Iudge and Interpreter AS to that you say did about all trouble you the want of a certaine humane externall infallible Iudge to interpret Scripture and define Questions of Faith without error What if you found not an externall humane Iudge if you had an internall diuine one And hauing an infallible Rule by which your humane Iudge should proceede why should you trust another mans applying it rather then your own in a matter concerning your owne saluation But iâ— God haue left vs no such externall Iudge if Antiquitie knew 〈◊〉 if Religion neede none it was no iust motiue to leaue vs that you could finde none amongst all those Sects which 〈…〉 And how much lesse if you haue 〈…〉 amended your selfe where you are which we shall consider by and by I say then first that to make this your motiue of any moment it must be shewed that God hath appointed such a Iudge in his Church Let that appeare out of some