Boniface 3 and Sabellicus 8.6 against all whom Bellarmine striues in vaine In Apologia pro Torto See B. Andrewes Ad M. Torti librum Responsio pag. 329. seq and Ad Cardinalis Bellarmini Apologium Responsio pag. 277. seq and B. Morton Appeal lib. 4. cap. 11. Vniuersall Bishop and not the Bishop of Constantinople which title in aftertimes gaue a good colour to the Bishops of Rome for their claimed-dominion ouer all Christian Churches Vsher c. 1. §. 18. So that within the first six hundred yeares doubtlesse the seeds of much euill were sowen and Antichrist conceiued though not yet borne for in all those six hundred yeares no man could truly be called Papist either for holding this vsurpation or any other of those 27 Articles which Bishop Jewel learnedly defends against Mr. Harding §. 5. Vsher ib cap. 2. § 4 c. In the succeding times The Bishops of France Germany and Britany opposed the Bishop of Rome in the matter of Images as the African Bishops before had done in the matter of Apeales For in anno 754 A Synod of 338 Bishops at Constantinople had abrogated all Images sauing that one Image of Bread and Wine which our Sauiour ordained in the B. Sacrament to represent his Body and Blood But the Pope in the yeare 587 As our English Histories report by another Synod called the second Councell of Nice established the worshipping of Images Which Councell and Image-worship our English Church execrated and our Alcuinus wrote a Booke against it which he carried in the name of our Bishops and Princes to the K. of France The same second Councell of Nice was condemned also by the Bishops of Germany and France in a Councell held at Frankfort vpon Mene in the yeare 794. As also by Charles the Great and Lodouicus Pius his sonne And in this Lodouicus his time was another Synod held at Paris anno 821. which condemned the same second of Nice with the Image worship and argued the Pope of errour therein Now to say these Councels that were against the Popes Iudgement were condemned by the Pope is to no purpose for thus it appeareth still that the Princes and Bishops of Brittany France and Germany reiected at once both the worship of Images and the determinations of a corrupt Councell and also the Popes infallibity of Iudgement and his authority ouer them as the Easterne and the Southerne African Bishops had done before Baronius further addeth Baronius anno 794. nu 36.39 seq that many learned and famous men liuing then in the world and in the Ages following greatly grudged at and sharpely wrote against that second Councell of Nice and the Image-worship by it and by the Popes confirmed many of whose names he recites and cites their words §. 6. In these times many Authors write that the worlds opinion was that Antichrist was borne yet that he was yet but an Infant not able to subdue the Nations vntill a thousand yeares after Christs planting the Church for till that time Satan was not let loose Reuel 20.7 Esay 1.21 Reuel 17.2 18.23 8. The faithfull City began to be an Harlot and great Babylon prostituted it selfe but could not yet inebriate the Inhabitants of the Earth with her Cups of Fornication till that time came But these preparations must goe before as did also the publishing to the world of Constantines Donation long since made as it was pretented but now first knowen to the world for the Popes larger temporall Dominion and also the comming abroad of the Decretable Epistles of ancient Popes long since also said to be written but neuer before knowen to the world for the Popes greater spirituall Dominion both which are condemned as meere counterfeits by many learned men yea by many of their owne side §. 7. Sigonius l 6. de regno Italiae Werner â—ascil temp aetat 6. circa annum 894 et â—74 Bellar. de Rom. Pont. l 4. c 12. verbis vlt. nulluÌ„ saeculum indoctius aut infaelicius Baronius tomo 10. anno 900. §. 1. Saeculum sui asperitate ac boni sterilitate ferreuÌ„ malique exundantâ—â— deformitate plumbeum â—â—que nopia scriptorum obscurum Abominatio desolationis in Templo mirum quod non secuta mox fuerit desolatio templi But the succeeding Ages exceeded in all kind of wickednesse both by the iniquity of Princes and madnesse of people as Sigonius Wernerus and all others record So openly wicked that Baronius and Bellarmine can neither hide nor deny it Bellarmine saith No Age was more vnlearned nor more if vnlucky Baronius saith They Were Iron Ages for barrennesse of goodnesse Leaden Ages for abundance of euill Ages of darknesse for scarcity of Writers which he tels in the beginning of the story lest a weake man seeing in the story the abomination of desolation sitting in the Temple should be offended and not rather wonder that there followed not immediately the desolation of the Temple And Baronius anno 912. § 8. laments thus O what a face was then of the Roman Church how filthy when the most rich and withall the most sordid Whores domineered at Rome by whose pleasure Bishops Seas were changed Bishops placed and which is horrible to be heard or spoken their Sweet-hearts false Bishops were intruded into Peters seat which are for no other ends recorded in the Catalogue of Roman Bishops but onely to fill vp the times And a little after Then plainly as appeareth Christ was in a deep sleepe in the ship when by these strong winds blowing the ship was neere couered with waues He slept I say when seeming not to see these things he suffered them and arose not to auenge them And which seemed yet worse there wanted Disciples with their cryes to awake him all sleeping What Priests doe you thinke were then chosen by these Monsters what Deacons Cardinals seeing nothing is more naturall then for like to beget their like This and much more Baronius to the like effect Gerber epist 40. at the end of that Age. Vsh ib. §. 33. Platina in Benedicto 4 Sabell in Ennead 9. l. 1. l. 2. Genebrard chronolg l 4 in Decimi saeculi initio Wernerus fasciculo temporum aeâ—â—t 6. circa annum 944. Vsh ibid. §. 34. Gerbertus in few words spake much of those times Romanorum mores Mundus perhorrescit The Romans manners the world thorowly abhorreth Platina and Sabellicus haue the like complaints of the state of the Church and Popes so vntollerably degenerate And Genebrand saith that in about 150 yeares there were about fifty Popes which wholly swarued from the vertue of their Predecessors a virtute maiorum prorsus deficerunt Apotactici Apostaticiue potiùs quam Apostolici rather masters of mis-rule or Apostataes then Apostolicke Wernerus a Carthusian Monke saith of this age Sanctitatem Papam dimisisse ad Jmporatores accessisse That holinesse forsooke the Pope and came to the Emperours Of the profane life of the Clergy
faith must bee iustified to be true sound and liuely by the fruits thereof For whensoeuer God forgiueth sinne he giueth grace also to resist and mortifie sinne See Hookers Discourse of Iustification §. 21. At the first instant when we are conuerted and iustified we receiue the spirit of Adoption we are made members of Christ and our bodies temples of the Holy Ghost euen then we receiue habituall righteousnesse wherewith our soules are inwardly indued and if wee liue that habituall will bring forth actuall righteousnesse vpon all occasions mortifying sinne and beatifying all the parts and actions of our life All these are giuen together in the root we receiue them all at once 1 Cor. 6.11 Gal. 6.15 col 3.10 eph 4.4.23 2 Cor. 4.16 psal 51.10 hebr 9.14 1 pet 2.9 See Pâ—rkins Refor Cath point 21 The manifold vses of good workes they are inseparable and will shew their comforts inwardly in our hearts and their fruits outwardly in our liues which if a man doe not find in himselfe he can haue no hope of saluation 1 Cor. 6.9 10. 1 Iohn 3.8 1.6 Ezek. 18 13 21 22. Therefore we vrge mortification of sinne denying our lusts and affections and a holy resolution to serue God in all soundnesse purenesse integrity and sincerity of heart and a true care to keepe all Gods Commandements not in act onely but in heart too without swaruing at all vnder any colour dispensation interpretation or whatsoeuer We thinke your extenuating of some sinnes calling them veniall and extolling mens satisfactions more then themselues need that they may be applyed by indulgences to them that need and the slight pennances imposed by your Priests and reciting a few prayers that haue pardons annexed to them or pilgrimes to some Saints Images or Reliques be they true or false and many other your humane deuices are the very stranglers of true penance mortification of sinne and care of good life 16 We exhort vnto and vrge such good workes as God hath prescribed commanded and promised rewards vnto both of holinesse towards God subiection to our Magistrates iustice to men sobriety and cleannesse in our selues and workes of mercy to them that need c. You doe not you cannot mislike this but whereas you adde other workes out of your owne braines which God neuer commanded nay which crosse Gods Commandements * A man may forsake parents to become a Christian Mat. 10.37 ergo to become a Monk So Bellarmine râ—asoneth lib. 2 de monachis cap. 36. contrary to the Councell of Gangren cap. 16. that children may forsake their duty to Parents for vowes of deuised Religion subiects may rebell against their Princes yea depose and murder them at the Popes appointment and doe many such things those wee cannot but detest and abhorre 17 We beleeue that howsoeuer man hath power in naturall morall ciuill Artic. 10. 1562. M Perkins Reformed Cath. point 1. and Augusâ—in confess art 18. Bâ—llar teacheth the same De â—ra lib. aâ—â— lib. 4 cap. 4 seq lib. 5. cap. 14. seq lib. 6. cap. 1. c. and also outward Ecclesiasticall actions to doe them or not to doe them except God restraine him yet he hath no freewill power or ability to conuert himselfe truely to godlinesse to beleeue or to performe or will any meere spirituall inward or holy actions pleasing God vntill God first by his grace moue his heart to will and giue him ability to performe them Phil. 2.13 Your best learned men beleeue and teach so also But you haue many other idle questions needlesse yet hurtfull to the Church which your Cassander wisheth were abolished Cassander consult in articulo 18. Of this point of Freewill see a fuller discourse afterwards lib. 3. Of Freewill Hebr. 13.6 psal 19.11 pro 11.18 hebr 6.10 mat 10.41 42. Bellarmine confesseth this to be our doctrine lib. 5. de iustif cap. 1. So Bellarmine de Iustif lib. 5. cap. 17. § Iam. vero and Rhemists vpon 2 tim 4.8 and vpon hebr 6.10 18 We beleeue that the good works of a iustified person are acceptable to the Lord please him are rewarded of him and procure many excellent blessings from him This you beleeue also but whereas you adde that that they doe properly and condignly merit eternall life as an equall recompence and reward you teach contrary to the Scriptures and to the ancient Fathers and to many of your owne men Of this point also see hereafter lib. 3. Of Merit 19 We beleeue that our Lord hath instituted two Sacraments in his Church as seales of his Couenant with his people and Conduits of Iustifying grace to wit Baptisme and his holy Supper You beleeue the same but you adde fiue other Matrimony Penance Ordination We find two mentioned by the Fathers as properly called Sacraments Aug. epist 118. lib. 3 de doctrina Christiana cap. 8. Ambros lib. de Sacraâ—entis Iustin Martyr Apolog 2. Tertul lib. 4. contra Marc. cap. 34. Cyril Cateches See Kemnit examen part 2. desacram But of things called Sacraments vnproperly they speake of more then seuen But this is a nouelty not knowen or not obserued in the Church of more then a thousand yeares and not imposed in the Church of Rome to be necessarily beleeued but very lately See more of this in B. Mortons appeal lib. 2. cap. 26. sect 4 5. Confirmation and Extreme Vnction Of which also we acknowledge the Institution and vse onely we deny them the name and the nature of Sacraments Artic. 25. 1562. art 27 28. Perk. resorm Cath. point 19. 20 We beleeue that God hath so annexed grace vnto the Sacraments that all well prepared receiuers doe participate the Iustifying and sanctify ng grace as well as the outward Elements You beleeue so too but you adde that Sacraments haue this grace Ex opere operato A tic 29. 1562. â—1 We beleeue that in our Lorâ—s supper the worthy Communicant really partaketh Christs Body and Blood You beleeue the same we onely differ in the manner how we say spiritually with his soule you say with his mouth and stomacke the substance of the Bread and Wine being you say transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ So that you also beleeue that impious Men and Atheists yea Cats Dogs and Mice eating the bread doe eat the very body of Christ Our manner is enough for saluation and agreeable to antiquity yours is a nouelty and crosseth the analogy of faith Of this point see a large discourse hereafter lib. 3. cap. Of the Eucharist 22 We beleeue there are two places prepared for soules departed out of this life Heauen for the blessed Perkins Reformed Catholicke point 17. of Purgatory Hell for the damned You beleeue so likewise but you adde other places more Purgatory Limbus patrum and Limbus pucrorum Of this point see more hereafter lib. 3. cap. Of Purgatory c. 23 We beleeue that Iesus Christ hath satisfied for our sinnes
opinion All which to let passe * See D. Field Appendix 1. part pag. 100. seq and Appendix of 27 Articles to the seuenth chapter of the third booke printed at the end of the fourth multitudes of others you still count Catholickes and of your Church though they taught many things against you And therefore out of your owne iudgement we may conclude that some few differences in some points betwixt Protestants doe not hinder them from being all of one Church and Religion §. 3. Antiquus Yes for your differences are great and many ours small and few Antiquissimus When you looke through false spectacles things may be seene greater or smaller then they are take heed you looke not on our differences through the spectacles of malice which makes euery small thing great and vgly and on your owne differences through the spectacles of selfe-loue which makes them seeme small and tollerable One speciall point of the manner of Christs being and being receiued in the Sacrament Archb. Abbot ag Hill Reason 5 §. 26. makes the maine difference bewixt the Lutherans in Denmarke and some places of Germany and the other reformed Churches Anthony sometime King of Nauarre said to the Ambassadour of Denmarke Comment Relig. Reip. in Gal. lib. exhorting the reformed French to be of Luthers doctrine There bee forty points wherein Luther and Calvin doe differ from the pope and in 39 of them they agree betweene themselues and in that single one they dissent Their followers therefore should doe well to ioyne in the greater number against the pope till they haue ruâ—nated him and when his heart is broken they should fall to compound that last single difference God in his good time grant it Now in that one speciall point Zanchius de dissidio Cana Dom. Iudicium tomo septimo in fine Miscelaneorum D. Field Church lib. 5. Appendix part 1. pag. 114. the difference is nothing so great as you would haue it thought For as the most learned and iudicious Zanchius obserueth and our Doctor Field out of him In all necessary points both the parties agree and dissent in one vnnecessary which by right vnderstanding one another might easily bee compounded First both parties agree in the necessity of the receiuers due preparing themselues with knowledge of their sinnes repentance of them faith in Christ for pardon of them and resolution to liue according to Gods Law Secondly both sides agree in the acknowledgement of the excellent vse of the Sacrament for a perpetuall memoriall of the death and passion of Christ for our saluation and that with him we should dye to sinne and be raised againe to newnesse of life be made one with him and nourished by him in a spirituall life here to eternall life hereafter Thirdly both sides agree that the very body and blood of Christ are to be receiued in that Sacrament that thereby we may be partakers of the life of Grace and also be strengthened confirmed and continued therein Fourthly both sides agree that the elements of bread and wine presenting to our consideration and faith the spirituall nourishing force that is in the body and blood of Christ are not abolished in their substance but onely changed in their vse which is not onely to signifie but also to exhibit and communicate vnto vs the very body and blood of Christ with all the gracious working and fruits thereof Fiftly both sides agree that the meaning of Christs words This is my Body This is my Blood when hee gaue them the Bread and Wine was this This which outwardly and vâ—sibly I giue you is in substance Bread and Wine and in mystery or exhibitiue signification my Body and Blood but this which together with them I giue you inuisibly is my very Boâ—y that is to be crucified and my very Blood which is to be shed for the remission of your sinnes Sixtly both parties agree and professe they firmely beleeue that the very Body and Blood of Christ which the Sacraments doe not onely signifie but exhib t and whereof the faithfull are partakers are truely present in the Sacrament and by the faithfull truely and really receiued Thus farre all parties agree that is in the whole necessary and sufficient substance of the doctrine of this Sacrament for the other matter wherein they differ De modo of the manner how Christ is present in the Sacrament seeing it is not expressed in the Scriptures In the iudgement of Zanchius it might be well omitted themselues confesse when they haue gone as farre as they can to determine it still it is ineffable and not possible to be fully vnderstood It is enough for vs to beleeue the Body and Blood are there though how and in what manner we cannot define §. 4. Antiquus Whether it be of so little importance or no I dispute not but I am sure the Controuersie still remaines and is hotly pursued and yet this is not the onely difference betwixt your Protestants there are many other Antiquissimus The more greatly to blame is your pope and Romish Hierarchy that when many grieuous corruptions of your Church both in Doctrine and gouernment were manifestly layed open See D. Field Appendix to the fift booke of the Church part 1. pag. 71. Gerson 3. part Apologet. de concilio Constantion Idâ—m de concilio vnius obedientiae would not for al the importunity of Princes Prelats people yeeld to any wholsome reformation but with obstinate resistance hindred all publicke proceeding in Reformation by the course of a general Councell so that seuerall States and Kingdomes were faine to redresse things amisse seuerally within their owne compasse without sufficient Intelligence and consultation one with another which could not bee done without some differences and it is lâ—ttle lesse then miraculous that the differences were not many more and greater Cassander saith when many were moued out of a godly affection sharply to reproue certaine manifest abuses Cassander consultation art 7. they were repelled and disdainfully contemned by them who were puffed vp with the swell ng conceits of their Ecclesiasticall power which caused the great distraction or rent of the Church and no firme peace is to be hoped for vnlesse the beginning thereof be from them that gaue the cause of this diuision that is vnlesse they that haue the gouernment of the Church remit something of their too great rigor and listning to the desires of many godly ones correct manifest abuses according to the rule of sacred Scripture and the ancient Church from which they are departed c. Thus writes your Cassander though a papist yet moderate and truely Iudicious Contarenus in confutatione Articulorum Lutheri Also your Cardinall Contarenus writing of the grieuances and complaints of the Lutherans for the manifold abuses brought into the Church makes a prayer to God that he would moue the hearts of the Prelats of the Church at the last to put away most pernicious selfe-loue and be
and preaching the kingdome of God no man forbidding him He called them in his Epistle Beloued oâ— God Rom. 1.7 8. Saints and saith their Faith was spoken of throughout the whole world Rom. â—5 14 and that they were full of goodnesse filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another And yet Saint Paul was faine to admonish the same Romans to marke them which caused diuisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which they had heard and learned and to auoid them For such serue not our Lord Iesus but their owne belly and by good words and fayre speaches deceiue the hearts of the simple Rom. 16.17 18 The same Saint Paul had planted a famous Church at Corinth continuing there a yeare and an halfe so famous that he said of it 1 Cor. 1.5 I thanke God that in euery thing ye are inriched by God in all vtterance and knowledge c. But that Church of Corinth which Paul had planted Acts 18.11 Apollo watered and God so encreased The Diuell and wicked men corrupted both in life 1 Cor. 5.1 to suffer such wickednesse as was not so much as named among the Gentils and in doctrine to embrace such points as made the Apostles preaching vaine 1 Cor. 15.14 19. and their faith vaine Yea and made Christians of all men most miserable Whâ—ch Saint Paul was faine laboriously to reforme by writing two large Epistles vnto them The Galations erred so dangerously about the doctrine of Iustification Gal. 5.2 4. that Saint Paul told them if they reformed it not they were fallen from grace and Christ profited them nothing The Philippians had among them dogs euill workers Phil. 3.2 18 19 enemies to the crosse of Christ whose God was their belly whose glory was in their shame whose end was damnation Of whome Saint Paul tels them weeping Saint Paul praised the Colossians Col. 1.3 4 6. Col. 2.8 16 21 22. yet he found it necessary to warne them of the danger of vaine philosophy traditions worshipping of Angels and other fruitlesse obseruations after the commandements and doctrines of men He praised the Thessalonians also 1 Thes 1.2 3. c. 2.13 14. ib. cap. 3.7 5. 2 Thes 2.2 3. Yet he found it fit to send Timothy to strengthen and comfort them least the tempter should by some meanes tempt them and frustrate his labour And by two Epistles he stirres them vp to continuance and stedfastnesse in the truth and giues them many good precepts of life As he doth also in all his other Epistles to other Churches The seuen Churches of Asia had their imperfections Reu. 2.4 5. their dangers and their need of helpes against them Ephesus fell from her first loue verse 7. Smyrna dwelt by the Synagogue of Sathan Pergamus by Satans seat verse 13. in danger of Balaams stumbling blocks and the Nicolaitans hatefull Doctrine Thyatyra tempted by Iezabels fornication and Idols verse 20. Sardis had a name to liue and was dead Reu. 3.1 Philadelphia had but little strength verse 8. verse 15. Laodicea was neither hot nor colde thought all well and knew not she was wretched miserable poore blinde and naked These Churches to which it may be presumed all other may in some sort more or lesse be resembled and ranked had the foundation well layed in them but yet they stood in need of continual renewed instructioÌ„s excitations exhortations consolations armour against temptations physicke against diseases and food against faintings and consequently of the Word of God which is all these to dwell plentifully among them and duely and daily to be ministred vnto them I verely thinke the want of frequenting our Sermons is the cause that so many fall away to the Romish It is the policy of your seducers to keepe them by all meanes from hearing and knowing the truth 2. Thes 2.10 11 12. Otherwise they could neuer be so blinded to beleeue lies to take Nouelty for Antiquity Idolatry for Gods worship treasons and massacres for holy acts to take pleasure in vnrighteousnesse and be carried away with such other strong delusions and withall deceiuablenesse of vnrighteousnesse to their owne perdidition and not rather receiue the loue of the truth that they might be saued Psal 58.4 â— These deafe Adders might be charmed if they did not willfully stop their eares against the voice of the Charmer Heb. 4.12 2 cor 10.4 5. charme he neuer so wisely For the word of God iâ— quick and powerfull and sharper then any two-edged sword piercing euen to the diuiding asunder of the soule and the spirit and of the Ioints and marow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The fruit whereof you may see where it is plentifull and graceously preached obseruing how religious deuout iust and truely honest the people become how temperate sober charitable vpright dealing and blessed people abhorring all sinne desirous and diligent to practise all good duties that tend to the honor of God and the good of men I doe not thinke but if your backsliders would carefully heare many of our Preachers they would be as Saint Paul saith conuinced of all 2 Cor. 14.24 25. and iudged of all the very secrets of their hearts made manifest and so falling downe on their faces would worship God and report that God is in the Preachers of a truth Antiquus Oh Sir so we thinke of our Priests wee reuerence them as Gods Angels we heare them as sent from God as God himselfe or as men sent and endued with power from God to teach vs the true way to heauen to absolue vs from our sinnes to offer vp the reall sacrifice of Christs body and blood for vs and to giue vs the true naturall body of Christ himselfe into our moothes to our eternall saluation Which priuiledges your titulary Ministers haue not They are no Priests they are meere secular men without any power and authority from God to doe any of these things And therefore we haue no reason to heare them or to reuerence them otherwise then we doe other ordinary men for their personall honesty or ciuility not for their offices You haue therefore offered mee iust occasion to proceed and vrge this thing as CHAP. 5. Of the succession of the Protestants Bishops and Ministers from the Apostles Section 1. The necessity thereof vrged without which there can be no such Church 2. This succession is clamourously denyed to Protestants 3. But manifestly proued and the slanders confuted 4. Particularly in Cranmer our first Archbishop 5. Jn other Bishops of King Henry 8 his time 6. And of Edward 6. and of Queene Maries time 7. And of Queene Elizabeths time 8. The false reports hereof doe alienate many from the Reformed Religion 9. A proofe of the sufficient ordination of Ministers in forraigne Reformed Churches 10. Which is further confirmed by the Doctrine and practise of the Romish Section 1. Antiquus ANother
authenticke 4 Of the word written being the sure ground of faith 5 Of Traditions 6 The three Creedes Page 74 76 Paragraph § 7 Of Gods worship in Spirit and Truth Page 77 Paragraph § 8 Of prayer in a knowen tongue 9 And to God alone 77 10 Of Christ our Mediator 11 Of Saints praying for vs. 12 Of honour due to Saints departed Page 78 Paragraph 13 Of Iustification by Christs merits Page 79 Paragraph 14 Of mans inherent righteousnes sanctification Page 79 Paragraph 15 Of contrition confession satisfaction and vivification c. Page 79 Paragraph 16 Of such good workes as God hath prescribed Page 81 Paragraph 17 Of freewill Page 81 Paragraph 18 That workes done by grace please God and are rewarded of him Page 82 Paragraph 19 Of two Sacraments seales and conduits of iustifying grace Page 82 Paragraph 20 That to the well prepared Receiuers God giues as well the iustifying and sanctifying grace as the outward elements Page 82 Paragraph 21 That the worthy Communicant really partaketh Christs Body and Blood Page 82 Paragraph 22 Of heauen for the blessed hell for the damned Page 83 Paragraph 23 Of Christs satisfaction for our sinnes Page 83 Paragraph 24 That we ought to pray for al the members of Christs militant Church vpon earth Page 83 Paragraph § 2 The Protestants doctrine in generall iustified by two Cardinals Contarene and Campeggio and our Liturgy by Pope Pius 4. Page 83 Paragraph § 3 But the Popes reach further at an earthy Church kingdome prooued Page 85 Paragraph § 4 And they challenge a supremacy ouer all Christians and Churches in the world Page 89 Paragraph § 5 More specially ouer the Clergy exempting them from being subiects to Princes either for bodily punishments or goods Page 90 Paragraph § 6 Yea a supremacy ouer all Christian Princes and their states to depose dispose and transpose them and to absolue subiects from their Allegeance to rebell c. hence comes treasons c. Page 92 Paragraph § 7 To dissolue bonds oathes and leagues Page 95 Paragraph § 8 To giue dispensations to contract matrimony in degrees by Gods lawes forbidden to dissolue lawful matrim Page 96 Paragraph § 9 And other dispensations and exemptions from lawes Page 99 CHAP. 6. Paragraph Of policies to maintaine the Popes Princedome and wealth Page 102 Paragraph § 1 Depriuing men of the light of the Scriptures Page 102 Paragraph § 2 And of ordinary orderly preachings in stead whereof the Pope set vp ambulatory preachers Monkes and Friers to preach what was good for his state without controule of Church-Ministers Officers or Bishops Page 103 Paragraph § 3 Schoolemens too-much subtilty and philosophy filled mens heads darkned and corrupted wholesome Theology Page 109 Paragraph § 4 Jesuites and their originall after Luthers time noted their Seminaries emissions faculties insinuations and most politicke imployments Page 110 Paragraph § 5 Cardinals a most powerfull and politicke inuention Page 114 Paragraph § 6 Prouision for men and women of all sorts high and low by Monasteries to susteine and satisfie all humours Page 118 Paragraph § 7 Auricular confession discouering many secrets and finding humours fit for all imployments c. Page 120 Paragraph § 8 Her policies to get wealth Page 121 Paragraph § 9 Purgatory a rich thing Page 122 Paragraph § 10 So are indulgences or pardons Page 122 Paragraph § 11 And Iubiles Page 123 Paragraph § 12 Corruptions of Doctrine touching merits and Iustification c. Page 125 Paragraph § 13 Things hallowed by the pope Page 126 Paragraph § 14 Extraordinary exactions most grieuous to Nations most rich to the pope Page 126 The second Booke Chap. 1. THe first Chapter is a discourse of the visibility of the Church and fully answereth that common question of the Romists where was the Protestants Church before Luthers time This Chapter is large and for better satisfaction and perspicuity is diuided into foure sections The first section sheweth how visible the true Church ought to be Page 136 The second sheweth that the Protestants Church hath euermore been so visible as the true Church ought to be For it was the same in all necessary doctrine first with the Primitiue Church and afterwards also with the Greeke and Easterne Churches 149 The third section sheweth the Waldenses were of the same Religion which the Protestants maintaine and deliuereth a sufficient historicall discourse of the Waldenses 155 The fourth section sheweth that our Church and the Church of Rome was all one in substance till Luthers time For euen till then the Church of Rome continued to bee the true Church of God excepting the Popacy and the maintainers thereof which was rather a sore or a faction in the Church then any true or sound part thereof 195 Chap. 1. These principall Sections are also subdiuided into Subsections and those into smaller Paragraphes noted thus § Sect. 1. subsect 1. So the first Section which sheweth How visible the true Church ought to be hath two Subsections The first Subsection Paragraph § 1 Sheweth an obiected description of the excellency of the Church and a necessity of the perpetuall succession and visibility thereof Page 136 Paragraph § 2 That for a thousand yeares and more our Church was all one with the Roman notwithstanding some growing corruâ—tions Page 138 Paragraph § 3 After that coruptions grew intollerable in the Roman Church yet many mâ—sliked them and held the truth Page 138 Paragraph § 4 The whole Catholicke Church can neuer be visible to men at once but parts of it may and must Page 139 Paragraph § 5 The promises of purity and eternall life doe not belong to all the Called but to the Few chosen whose true faith to men is invisible though their persons and profession be visible Page 140 Paragraph § 6 And so much Bellarmine and many other Romanists yeeld Page 141 Subsect 2 The second subsection 143 Paragraph § 1 Some promises of God concerne the outward spreading of the Church and some the inward Graces Page 143 Paragraph § 2 The outward spreading and glorious visibility is not at all times alike Page 144 Paragraph § 3 So Saint Ambrose and Saint Austen teach by comparing the Church to the Moone Page 145 Paragraph § 4 Many Fathers and Romish Doctors say that in the time of Antichrist the Church will be obscure and hardly visible Page 145 Paragraph § 5 Which say Valentinianus and many Fathers was fulfilled in the Arrians time Page 146 Paragraph § 6 The Iesuite Valentinianus grants as much invisâ—bility of the Church as the Protestants desire Page 147 Paragraph § 7 Obseruations out of his grant Page 148 Chap. 1. Sect. 2. subsect 1 The second section shewing that the Protestant Church hath euermore been so visible as the Church of Christ ought to be hath two subsections Paragraph The first subsection concerning the first times Page 149 Paragraph § 1 Sheweth that the Protestants labour sincerely to teach the same doctrine which the Scriptures and
Catholicke Expositions of the Creed The fift Article is That no other prayer is to be vsed but onely the Pator noster set downe in Scripture Answ And yet their owne Writers Rainerius Eymericus c. record diuers other of their prayers as for Grace before meat this He that blessed the fiue barley loaues and two fishes in the Desert to his Disciples blesse this Table vnto vs. And after meat that of the Reuelation 5.12 13. Blessing and honour and wisedome and thankes and vertue and power be vnto our God for euer and euer Amen Also God giue a good reward and recompence to all that doe well vnto vs. And God which hath giuen vs corporall food giue vs also spirituall life And The Lord be with vs and we with him for euer And the rest answered Amen There is a large and punctuall confession of sinne set downe in the third part of the History of the Waldenses and Albigenses booke 1. cap. 2. taken out of their booke Intituled New Comfort All which and many other shew the vanity of this cauill The sixt Article That the power of consecrating the body of Christ and of hearing Confessions was left by Christ not onely to Priests but also to Laymen if they be iust Answ The first part of this Article they held not but rather the contrary that neither Priests nor Laiks could consecrate the body of Christ For i Rainer in summa de Catharis Leonistiâ— Rainerius saith They doe not beleeue the Sacrament to be the true Body and Blood of Christ but the Bread consecrated is called in a certaine figure the Body of Christ as it is said The Rocke was Christ and the like The second part they said truely Iames 5 1â— and we hold That the power to heare Confessions is left by Christ not onely to Priests but to discreet and godly Lay-people who are able to counsaile and comfort them The seuenth Article is That no Priests must haue any Liuings at all but must liue on Almes and that no Bishops or other dignity is to be admitted in the Clergy but that all must be equall Answ That their Ministers may not lawfully take and enioy Liuings or that it was sinne so to doe they taught not So they professe in their answer Ad literas Augustâ—ai Olomucensis ann 1508. plenius in scripto edâ—to 1572. but were sorry they had not sufficient stayed Liuings for them whereby they might haue more time to their studies and greater opportunity to instruct them with necessary doctrine and knowledge but they were not ashamed of their Ministers that were content to worke with their hands to get their liuing since the doctrine and example of the Apostles lead them to it and they had rather see them so to doe then to liue idly follow Tauerns venery vanity vsury sacriledge other wickednesse That all Ministers must be equall they meant in orders but not in Iurisdiction for they allowed Deacons Presbyters and Bishops as both Guido and Sanders obserue The eighth Article is That Masse is to be said once onely euery yeere to wit vpon Maundy Thursday when the Sacrament was instituted and the Apostles made Priests For that Christ said Doe this in remembrance of me to wit say they that which he did at that time Luke 22.1 Cor. 11. Answ Parsons pretending to bring no articles but such as all Authors charge the Waldenses withall brings this which no Author imputes to them but onely one Guido Carmelita and l Alphons de Castro lib. 6. adv haereses tit de Euchar. Alphonsus de Castro wonders where Guido found it m Aeneas Sylv. hist Bohem. cap. 35. Aeneas Syvius mentions it not but contrarily saith they hold that the Priest may consecrate in any place and at any time and minister to them that require it n Rainer ib. 224. 12. And Rainerius They mislike that the faithfull should communicate but once in the yeare and they communicate daily And concerning the Masse he saith o Ib. 224. 14. They hold that the Masse is nothing that the Apostles had it not and that it was made for gaine And p Ib. 224. 17. that the oblation made by the Priest in the Masse profiteth nothing The ninth and last Article obiected by Parsons That the words of Consecration must be no other but onely the Pater noster seuen times said ouer the bread c. Answ q Alph. Castro ibid. Alphonsus de Castro saith Jt is possible that the Waldenses might haue had this but not probable for only Guido Carmelita saith it but Aeneas Sylvius a farre more diligent man and of better iudgement mentions it not neither Antoninus nor Bernardus de Lutzenburge though they all professedly reckon vp their errors but rather they say the contrary That the Waldenses held The Priest might consecrate in euery place and time and minister to them that desire it and that it was sufficient to speake the Sacramentall words onely r Rainer pa. 224. 14. Edit Froheri And Rainerius saith They receiue not the Canon of the Masse but onely the words of Christ vulgarly By these nine selected Articles whereby Parsons would make the world beleeue the Waldenses differed much from vs the world may see they differed nothing at all had there beene greater differences doubtlesse he would haue shewed them for he purposely sought the greatest Finding therefore no difference we may safely conclude they were fully of our faith and Religion our predecessors and fore-runners and that the Protestants doctrine was held and taught in the world openly and professedly aboue 400 yeeres before Luther taught it in Germany Sectionis 3. Subsectio 2. § 1. Of the great numbers of the Waldenses § 2. Their disputations § 3. Warres against them § 4. By the famous Simon Montfort § 5. Carcasson taken § 6. and 7. New Armies by Croysadoes against them out of all Christendome Tolous taken the King of Aragon slaine § 8. Tolous recouered Simon slaine The King of France continueth the warres The Albigenses thriue recouer Carcasson spread in many Countries § 9. The Earle of Tolous deceiued by the Pope or his Legate fortifies Avignon The King of France besiegeth it dyeth mad the Legate vnable by force gets it by fraud and periury § 10. Tolous ouerthrowes the French Armies The Pope offers him peace The great warres cease Councels are held to root out the Albigenses § 11. Jgnorance of Histories makes men loue the Pope §. 1. Antiquus Well Sir if it should be granted that these Waldenses held your doctrine intirely without difference and so were of your Church yet were you neuer the nearer because their numbers were so few and scattered that they did not make a Church so visible as the true Church of God must alwayes be Antiquissimus I will proue they did and that plentifully and manifestly without all exception out of your owne Authors a This Rainerius is set out by Freberus
Tridentine faith is not so old as Luther neuer seene in the world of many yeares after his death CHAP. 2. Answering the vaine alleadging of some words and customes and corrupt alleadging of the Fathers words against Protestants § 1. Obiection None alleadged in the former chapter agree with Protestants in all things ergo are not of their Church or Religion 2 Answered It is no consequent For so also euery one of them differed from the present Romish Religion and yet are accounted theirs Protestants haue iustly abstained from some words and phrases of some Fathers 3 And also haue left off some ceremonies and customes 4 As the Church of Rome hath left many knowne to be ancient and thought to be Apostolicall 5 Which confutes the vanity of W.G. his booke and shewes his owne alleadged authors by his owne argument to bee none of his Church and Religion 6 By the same argument many Fathers for example Athanasius Ierom Gelasius Gregory Chrysostome Augustine are plentifully proued to be against the present Church and Religion of Rome 7 Foure seuerall wayes at the least the Romish make shew of the Fathers to be for them The first by alleadging counterfeit books falsely bearing the Fathers names Many examples hereof 8 The second by corrupting the bookes which the Fathers wrote putting words in or out and altering the text to speake contrary to their meaning 9 The third by blinding or perverting the sense of the Fathers sentences by glozes and interpretations 10 The fourth by citing the Fathers to proue that which is not in question §. 1. Antiquus NOw that you haue said what you can or will to shew that Protestants had a sufficient visible Church in all Ages since Christ I reply you neuer had any For neither the Fathers nor Greeke Church nor Waldenses nor the Church of Rome before Luthers time were of your Religion Campian Ratio 5. For the Fathers it was Mr. Campians fifth reason why he challenged combate with the Protestants because all the Fathers backed him Ad Patres si quando licebet accedere confectum est praelium If we may try it by the Fathers the fight is at an end For they are as sure ours as Pope Gregory the 13. These and the other three sorts euery one of them either in many points or at least in one or other differed from you As the Rhemists say in their Annotation vpon Rom. 11. ver 4. We will not put the Protestants to proue that there were 7000 of their sect when their new Elias Luther began but let them proue that there were seuen or any one his either then or in all Ages before him that was in all points of his beleefe Thus the Rhemists §. 2. Adrationes Campians G. Whitakeri responsio ad rationem 5. Antiquissimus The vanity of Campian you may see by D. Whitakers answer who shewes that euery one of the Fathers whom Campian picked out and named held points directly against him and for vs. Euen Dionysius Cyprian Athanasius Basil Nazianzin Ambrose Ierom Chrysostome Austen Gregory The vanity of your Rhomists and other lipellers following them is palpable in that they thinke euery smal point of doctrine or practice yea euery small rite or ceremony vsed by some and not vsed by others makes a difference of their Religion We doe not deny but that we haue left off and disused diuers traditions ceremonies and phrases which were vsed in the ancient Church but we constantly affirme we carefully and entirely hold all the substance of doctrine and all things necessary for saluation not onely for the essence but for the perfection beauty and ornament of the Church so that notwithstanding the things left off wee are wholy and fully of the Primitiue and ancient Religion Aâ—tiquus Why haue you left off any words and phrases of the ancient Fathers if you hold their doctrine why forsake you their words Antiquissimus Bellar. De cultu Sanctorum lib. 3 cap. 4. Ad testim patrum dico De Romano Pontif. lib. 3. cap. 13. §. Ratio autem cur Apostoli in Scripturis nunquam vocant sacerdotes Christianos sacerdotes sed solum episcopos presbyteros c. See Here. cap. 5 sect 9. See this matter handled aâ— large by B. Morton Appeal lib 2. cap. 7. B. Andreâ—es Ad Bellarmini Apologiam Responsio cap 8. pag. 184. Because those words are now taken to signifie such doctrines as then they intended not Their doctrine we hold though some of their words we doe not so frequently vse you vsurpe those words but refuse their doctrine Your Bellarmine tels vs truly that the Apostles and first Christians abstained from the words Temple and Priests vsing the words Ecclesiae Episcopi Presbyteri And thus Iustinus Ignatius and the other most ancient Fathers vsed to speake The reason was lest people might vnderstand them as if they meant that the Iewish ceremonies continued with the Temple of Salomon and the sacrificing Priests But afterwards in Tertulliâ—ns time when the danger of that misconceit was worne out Christians began to call Presbyters and Bishops by the name of Priests c. So that the words which the Apostles and first Fathers neuer vsed for feare of mistaking the following Fathers ordinarily vsed hoping after that long disusing they should not be mistaken they vsed the words Priests or Sacerdotes altars sacrifices oblations and such like not properly but by allusion to the Priests altars and sacrifices of the Iewes which were types figures and as it were foretokens or foreprophesies of Christs sacrifice offred once by himselfe for the sinnes of the whole world which was the Antitype verity of those of the Jewes and was continually to be remembred againe as oft as the blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood was celebrated â—useb demonstr Evang. lib. 1. c. 10. Chrysost hom 17. in Hebr. Ambr. in Epist ad Hebr. 10. 〈◊〉 August in Psal 75. Jdem lib. 20. aduers Faustum Manichaeum cap. 21. tom 6. Thus the Fathers haue expressed their owne meanings Eusebius Christ hath offered a marvailous sacrifice for the saluation of vs all commanding vs to offer vnto God a memoriall instead of the sacrifice of his Body and Blood Chrysostome wee offer vp the same sacrifice which Christ offered or rather a remembrance thereof the like hath Ambrose Augustine saith when we doe not forget our Sauiours gift is not Christ daily offered for vs Christ was once offered for vs and by that memory he is so daily sacrificed for vs as if he daily renued vs. And more fully Sacrificij nostri vera caro caro Christi olim in veteri lege per victimas pollicebatur in passione vero Christi in cruce per veritatem reddebatur at hodie in nostre sacrificio per sacramentum memoriae celebratur Sententiarum lib. 4. distinctio 12. lit g. The Master of the Sentences asketh whether that which the Priest holdeth may be called properly a sacrifice or
offering and he answereth that which is offered and consecrated by the Priest is called a sacrifice and oblation because it is a memoriall and representation of the true sacrifice and holy offering made vpon the Altar of the Crosse Bellar. De Missa lib. 1. cap. 15. §. Alter modus These and many other testimonies Bellarmine alledgeth and laboureth by wit to elude saying it is so indeed but not onely so He will not onely haue it to be a commemoratiue and representatiue but a true and proper sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood really the same hoste not differing from his Body in heauen and the immolation or sacrificing of him in the formes of Bread Concil Trid. sess 22. cap. 2. Alanus de Euchar. sacrif lib. 2. c. 12. the very same with his sacrificing vpon the Crosse as the Councell of Trent speakes The controuersie therefore is concerning the proper and improper signification of the Fathers tearmes They take them as properly spoken as of a true reall propitiatory sacrifice auaileable in it selfe for remission of sinnes and so turne the Sacrament into a sacrifice profitable without receiuing and the Priests office which should be in preaching and ministring the Sacraments Matth. 28. Mark 16. is now onely to say Masse or offer vp the daily sacrifice frustrating Christs institution with a gainfull inuention of their owne In regard of this mistaking of the Fathers words of Priests altars sacrifices Ministers the ordinary word of the new Testament Rom 15.16 1 cor 3 5. 4.1 2. cor 3.6 6.4 Eph. 3.7 cor 1.7 23 25. 4.7 1 thes 3.2.1 tim 4.6 And their office or worke called Ministry Act. 6.4 20.24 21.19 12.25 2 cor 58.1 6.3 Eph. â— 12. col 4.17 4.2 1 timoth. 1.12 1. tim 4. Communion 1 cor 10.16 table 1 Corinth 10.21 The Lords Super. 1 cor 11.20 2 Kings 18.4 See Cassander consultatio artic 7. De ecclesia § De Pontifice Rom. c. and of the abuses arising thereupon we rather chuse the words of Scripture and of the more ancient Fathers Ministers Communion Table Sacraments then those words which are neuer vsed in the New Testament nor in the ancientest Fathers but by them purposely auoyded for feare of being mistaken by your owne confession The same reason therefore that moued the blessed Apostles and Primitiue Fathers to abstaine from those words the same râ—ason â—oâ—es vs to doe the like §. 3. Antiquus But why haue you left off any of those customes and ceremonies which were vsed by the Fathers what reason had you for that Antiquissimus First the same reason that Hezekiah had to breake abolish the brazen Serpent which had been of good vse to the honour of God and edifying of men but in his time was abused to be an instrument of Idolatry Secondly the same reason that S. Paul had against the Agapae or Feasts of Loue 1 Cor. 11.19 20 21 22. For as your Rhemists acknowledge vpon that place at first the richer Christians made feasts bringing store of meat and drinke to the Churches to ioy and cheare vp themselues and the poore that wanted when they came to receiue the holy Sacrament which Feasts were called Agapae Feasts of Charity These Feasts afterwards through abuse became occasions of pride in them that had to bring of contempt to them that had not of gluttony and drunkennesse yea of rejecting the poore and of the formost deuouring all without expecting one another This occasioned Saint Pauls reproofe of them then and the whole abrogation of them afterward August epist 119 ad Ianuar. cap. 19. See B. Morton Appeal lib. 1. cap. 3. sect 1 2 3 4 5. Thirdly the same reason also that Saint Augustine had to complaine of the multitude of rites and ceremonies grieuous and burdensome to the Church in his time which continually increased till our times and with the mulitude and painfull or too carefull obseruance thereof much decayed the due obseruance of the substantiall points of Religion As too many branches of the Vine hinder the fruitfulnesse and therefore good husbands prune them off Fourthly and finally the same Reason which the Roman Church it selfe had to disuse or abolish many customes traditions rites and ceremonies formerly vsed whereby they iustifie vs. Antiquus Name some of them I pray you §. 4. See B. Morton Appeal lib. 2. cap. 25. sect 10. and the Authors there alledged Bellar. De Euch. lib. 4. cap. 28. Antiquissimus Our B. Morton deliuers you a dozen at once citing his Authors and places of their bookes for them 1 the threefold dipping in Baptisme in memory of the Trinity thought by Dionysius Basil Athanasius Ierom Austen Ambrose to be an Apostolicall tradition now saith Binius and Canus abolished and one dipping or sprinkling thought sufficient by the common consent of Diuines 2 Remouing the old custome of tasting honey in Baptisme spoken of by Tertullian and Ierom. 3 Of abrogating the ceremony of washing the feet in Baptisme spoken of by Saint Ambrose and Augustine epist 119. cap. 28. 4 Decreeing also in the Councell of Trent sess 21. cap. 4 the administration of the Eucharist vnto Infants vsed sixe hundred yeeres in the Church to be vnnecessary and vnfitting Maldonat comment in Ioh. 6. Binius 5 â—he custome that it was not lawfull to Baptise but onely at Easter and Whitsontide is abrogated be-because of the dangers of common life Durand 6 Night vigils mentioned by Tertullian and Ierom and praised by other Fathers forbidden to Women by the Councel of Elliberis to be in Churchyards and afterwards in the Toletan and Tridentine Councels Binius 7 The standing at publike prayers all the time betwixt Easter and Whitsontide decreed by the Nicene Councell and obserued by the ancient Fathers as Saint Ambrose and Ierom witnesse and counted an Apostolicke constitution now haue left no foot-steps of it Durand Cassander 8 Washing of the bodies of the dead vsed by the Ancients mentioned by Tertullian Eusebius and Gregory Durand 9 The Feasts of Charity called Agapae mentioned in the Constitutions of Clement reproued by S. Paul to the Corinthians but in other Churches long continued the Councell of Laodicaea forbad now they are forgotten Bouius 10 The dispensing with an Apostolicall Canon concerning the Consecration of Bishops Bel. Binius 11 The neglecting of the Wednesdayes and Fridayes Fast in the East Church by the 68 Canon of the Apostles or of Friday and Saturday in the West by Apostolicke Constitution mentioned by Clemens Jgnatius Epiphanius Athanius and others Bouius 12 Of fourescore and foure Canons of the Apostles scarce 6 or 8 are obserued in the Latin Church saith Michael Medina cited by D. Rainolds Thes 5. Vnto which I might adde many other things as 1. The times of prohibiting marriage much abridged For by some ancient Councels as namely that of Laodicea celebrated aboue twelue hundred yeeres agone there were three times prohibited from the celebration of
marriage which the Church of England still obserueth Concil Laodice cap. 25. Bellar. De Matrimonio lib. 1. cap. 31. §. Alterum imped §. Ratio hujus Concil Trident. session 24. ca. 10 1 From Aduent to the Epiphany 2 From Septuagesima vntill a weeke after Easter 3 From the dayes of Rogation vntill a weeke after Whitsontide But the late Councell of Trent hath onely continued the first entire cut the second shorter by 16 dayes beginning with Lent and ending a weeke after Easter and the third it hath quite cut off Concil Trident. sess 24. canon 3. 2 The degrees prohibiting marriage both enlarged and abridged For the Councell of Trent hath this Canon If any man say that the degrees onely expressed in Leuiticus of consanguinity and affinity doe hinder the contracting of Matrimony and dissolue it being contracted and that the Church hath not power to dispense in some of them or constitute that more degrees may hinder and dissolue let him be Anathema Here is a change of Gods law loosing where God hath bound binding where God hath loosed And they accursed that grant not this power to the Roman Church Bellarmine de Matrimonio lib. 1. cap. 29. initio And here is a change of the Churches custome also For Bellarmine addeth Recte Catholica Ecclesia conjugia prohibuit olim vsque ad septimum postea vero vsque ad quartium gradum consanguinitatis affinitatis The Catholicke Church in former time rightly forbad marriage to the seuenth degree and afterwards to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity Concil Trid. sess 21. cap. 3. canon 1 2 3. 3 And yet the Church of Rome is bolder euen to change Christs owne Ordinance and Institution of the Blessed Sacrament of his Body and Blood denying the Cup to the people and accursing them that hold it necessary for the Laity although the whole Church vsed it aboue a thousand yeeres together And yet they hold themselues to be one and the same Catholicke Church that so long vsed it In their opinion therfore the abrogating or changing of traditions or ceremonies howsoeuer they declaime against Protestants for such matters cuts not men off from being of the same Church that vsed them Antiquus Indeed ceremonies are inuentions of men and therefore alterable by the wisedome of the Church as times place and occasions require And the Church may ordaine new ceremonies also as Bellarmine teacheth lib. 2. de effectu Sacramentorum cap 31 § tertia propositio c. Antiquissimus I let passe much superstitious and sacrilegious doctrine which Bellarmine there vttereth attributing almost as much to Ceremonies inuented by men as to the Sacraments ordained by Christ And I accept what is granted that being invented by men they are alterable by men and not being of the substance of Religion the vsing or disusing of them makes no alteration or difference in Religion Saint Augustine discoursing of the diuersity of ceremonies and customes in seuerall Churches and Countries tels a story of his mother Monica Aug. epist 118. who comming to Milan and finding that they fasted not vpon Saturdayes as in her countrey they did was much disquieted in her mind as at diuersity of Religion and knew not what to doe but she was resolued by Saint Ambrose Bishop of that City that such things made no difference of Religion When I come to Rome saith he I fast on the Saturday when I am at Milan I fast not So you to what Church soeuer you come Ejus morem serua si cuiquam non vis esse scandalo nec quenquam tibi Obserue the custome of that Church if you will not be offensiue to others nor others to you Here obserue Rome and Milan two great Cities in one Countrey both in Jtaly yet had seuerall customes and ceremonies which to some weake consciences through ignorance might be offensiue yet were they all of one Religion in substance and for rites or ceremonies at that time Milan was no more bound to obey Rome then Rome to obey Milan §. 5. As your Rhemists insinuate Annot. vpon Rom. 11. ver 4. But now if a man be not in all points though neuer so small nay in all traditions rites and ceremonies conformable to the ancient Church or to the Church of Rome late before Luthers dayes you count him not of the same Religion One of your idle Pamphleters idle for the matter he brings but too to busie in lying and rayling one W. G. ashamed belike to adde his full name professor in Diuinity writes a Booke points and repoints it Permissu superiorum 1619. entituled A Discouery of shifts c. His principall matter is to shew that before Luthers time No man was euer of the Protestants Religion His reason because all men held one point or other at least tradition rite or ceremony different from the Protestants which he labours to shew by running thorow a great number of Instances not considering that by the same reason it might be as well prooved that neuer any man vntill the late Councell of Trent was of the Papists Religion For he asketh thus First was Dionysius Areopagita a Protestant and answereth No for he maintained traditions spake of Altars places sanctified rasuâ—e of Priests burning of incense at the Altar c. Answer To omit that many doubt and some censure the bookes imputed to him to be counterfeits as Casetan Valla Erasmus Possevin and Bellarmine see Censura librorum Roberti Coc. pag. I aske againe was Dionysius Areopagita a Papist No for he hath many things of the Eucharist which condemne Priuate Masses Communion vnder one kinde onely and Transubstantiation See Câ—talogus testium veritatis lib. 1. Secondly Was Papias scholler to Saint Iohn Evangelist a Protestant No saith W. G. for hee defended Traditions and Peters primacy and Romish Episcopality How then was he a Papist No say we for hee taught such traditions as Papists condemne as namely the errour of the Chibiasts or Millenaries and said it was a Tradition deliuered from the Apostles Baronius anno 118. n. 5. c. n. 2. Thirdly was Ignatius a Protestant No for he approued traditions limbus patrum merits and the reall presence Not so But was he then a Papist no for Protestants cite him against Transubstantiation and Communion vnder one kinde priuate Masses and the Popes supremacy Catalogus testium lib. 2. appendice pag 2087. Bellarmine reâ—ects the Greeke copies of his workes being against the Papists Fourthly was Tertullian a Protestant no for hee hold the Montanists heresie Was he a Papist then no for the same reason also he writes sharpely against the Popes budding supremacy and against Transubstantiation and for the sufficiency of Scriptures to confute heretickes See Catal. test lib. 3. Fiftly was Saint Cyprian a Protestant no saith he for he was a Montanist also was he then a Papist no for Papists condemne Montanists as well as Protestants also he equals all the Apostles with
figura est ergo Therefore it is a figuratiue speech And hee defines Sacraments to be o Contra Maximinum lib. 3. cap. 22. Sacramenta sunt signa aliud existentia aliud significantia signes being one thing and signifying another And of this Sacrament he saith p In psal 98. Non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fusuri sunt qui me crucisigent Sacramentum aliquod commendavi vobis You shall not eat this body which you see nor drinke this blood which they will shed which crucifie me I commend a certaine Sacrament thereof vnto you And he often beats vpon this that though wicked men doe eat the signe and Sacrament yet none but the worthy receiuers doe eat rem Sacramenti the very Body of Christ q Serm. 11. de verbis Apostoli And Manducabant illi Panem dominum Iudas panem domini contra dominum illi vitam ille paenam r Tract 59. in Iohannem See also Tract in Ioan. 11. 13. 26. De civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 25. De Doctp christiana lib. 3. cap. 9. epist 23. ad Bonifacium epist 57. De Trinitate lib. 3. cap. 10. Contra Adimantum cap. 12. Contra Faustum lib. 20. cap. 21. alibi passim He held two Sacraments of the new Testament onely Å¿ Epistola 118. Libro 3. de doctrina Christiana cap. 9. Baptisme and the Lords Supper Calvin t Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 17. § 28. Peter Martyr and the rest of the Protestants count Saint Augustine wholly theirs as did Berengarius before them by Bellarmines confession u Bellar. de Euchar. lib. 2. cap. 24. initio Saint Augustine condemnes Image-worship Follow not saith he x De moribus ecclesiae lib. 2. cap. 34. De civ Dei lib. 8. cap. 27. See Vines comment vpon it the company of ignorant men who in true Religion are superstitious worshippers of Sepulchres and pictures which customes the Church condemneth and daily laboureth to correct And hee saith y De fide symbolo cap. 7. Contra Adimantum cap. 13. It is great wickednesse to place the Image of God in Churches And that to worship the Prototypon sampler or thing resembled by an Image resembling it as the Heathen excused their Idolatry is an absurd servile and carnall thing z De doctr Christiana lib. 3. cap. 7 8 9. See in psal 113 epist 49. And hee writes against Pilgrimages for Religion Serm. 3. De Martyribus Of Purgatory a thing which came to be imagined in his dayes in some places a Encherid cap. 69. de octo quaest Dulciâ—ij qu. 1. De side oâ—er cap. 16. De civ Dei lâ—b 21. cap. 26. hee doubteth whether there be any such place or no but in many places hee giueth sound reasons to ouerthrow it The Catholicke Faith saith he b Contra Pelag. Hypogn lib. 5. resting vpon Diuine authority beleeues the first place the Kingdome of Heauen and the second Hell a third we are wholly ignorant of Yea wee shall find in the Scriptures that it is not c De pecc merit remiss lib. 1. cap. 27. lib. 24. De civ Dei c. 15. serm 232. de tempt There is no middle place he must needs be with the Diuell that is not with Christ d De verbis Apostoli serm 18. There are two habitations after death Vna in igne aeterno altera in regno aeterno And c Homil. 5. when we are passed out of this world no satisfaction remaineth And f Epist 80. wherein euery man 's owne last day finds him therein the worlds last day will hold him For such as in this day euery one dies such in that day hee shall be iudged Againe g Epist 54. there is no other place then in this life to correct our manners for after this life euery one shall haue that which in this life he sought to himselfe For h De verbis Dom. serm 37. Christus suscipiendo paenam non suscipiendo culpam culpaÌ„ delevet panam Christ by taking vpon him our punishment and not taking our sin hath put away both our sin punishment He that holds these things cannot hold Purgatory In briefe therefore In all these former points And furthermore against Free-will and for Gods grace against Mans merits and iustification by our inherent righteousnesse and for Iustification by Gods free mercy and Christs merits onely for the doctrine of faith and good workes for prayer to God alone and by the onely Mediator Iesus Christ against the adoration and inuocation of Angels and Saints departed and other the most necessary and profitable points of Theologie Saint Augustine was no Papist but wholly and entirely of the Protestants Religion §. .7 Antiquus How can this possibly be so when you see our Catholickes doe continually cite Saint Augustine Chrysostome and the rest of the Fathers for confirmation of their doctrine and against yours Antiquissimus They may first cite bookes vnder the names of the Fathers which the Fathers neuer wrote secondly they may corrupt the Fathers putting in or out words or phrases to alter their sense and speake contrary to their meaning thirdly they may by glosses and interpretations wrest the sentences which they finde in them to meane otherwise then they intended and fourthly they may alter the state of the questions betwixt vs and then alleadge the Fathers against their owne fancies not against our Doctrine And by these meanes they may cite and multiply the Fathers names in shew against vs but in truth nothing to the purpose And thus they doe First they alledge many bookes and writings which were not written by those holy learned Fathers whose names they beare For examples Our Bishop Jewell propounding 27 Articles which the Church of Rome holdeth at this day for confirmation of any one of which if any man liuing could shew him any sufficient sentence of any old Catholicke Doctor Father or generall Councell c. within 600 yeeres after Christ he would yeeld and subscribe See Casaubon Prolegom §. Spectare ad Master Harding vndertaking to answer alledged for ancient Doctors and Fathers The Constituions Apostolicall of Clemens Abdias Dionysius Areopagita The decretall Epistles of ancient Popes Amphilochius and such like which are all censured by their owne learned men for counterfeit writings vniustly attributed to the Reuerend Authors whose names they beare Obserue them well Clements Apostolicke Constitutions are cited also by the Rhemists a Rhemes Test annot in Luc. 4.1 to proue Lent Fast to bee as ancient as the Apostles times and by Bellarmine b Bellar. lib. 1. de clericis c. 12. for the antiquity of Ecclesiasticall Orders Also c See Bellarmines seuerall Treatises of these things for vowes of continency for prayer for the dead for holy water for reseruation of the Sacrament for mixing Wine and Water
and primacy he would not haue failed to vse them being so pregnant for his purpose In the same edition of Manutius Bedel ibid. See D. Field 5. cap. 42. fol. vlt. the Epistle of Firmilianus Bishop of Cesaria beginning Accepimus per Rogatianum is quite left out although Saint Cyprian thought it worthy his translation and publication and good cause why For that Bishop tartly vilifieth the Bishop of Romes both place person farre beneath that height which they now assume Firmilianns reproueth the folly of Stephanus that boasting so much of the place of his Bishopricke and succession of Peter bee stirred vp contentions and discords in all other Churches and bids him not deceiue himselfe he is become aschismaticke by separating himselfe from the communion of the Ecclesiasticall vnity for while hee thinkes he can separate all from his Communion hee hath separated himselfe onely from all He taxeth him for calling Cyprian a false Christ a false Apostle and a deceitfull workeman which being priuy to himselfe that these were his owne due preuentingly he obiected to another This Epistle is omitted in the new prints And thus graue Authors are shamefully curtalled and corrupted when they speake against the Pope and his doctrine their tongues are cut out contrarily words and sentences are foysted into their workes to make them seeme to speake for him when they neuer meant it Franc. Iunius reports that he comming in the yeare 1559. to a familiar friend of his Junius in praesatione ante Indicem expurgatorium Belgicum à se editum 1586 named Lewes Sauarius Corrector of a Print at Leydon found him ouerlooking Saint Ambrose Workes which Frellonius was printing Whereof when Junius commended the elegancy of the Letter and Edition the Corrector told him secretly it was of all Editions the worst and drawing out many sheets of now-waste-paper from vnder the Table told him they had printed those sheetes according to the ancient authenticke copies but two Franciscans had by their authority cancelled and reiected them and caused other to be printed and put in their roomes differing from the truth of all their owne bookes to the great losse of the Printer and wonder of the Corrector Gretzer De iure prohib libros lib. 2. cap. 10. The Iesuite Gretzerus defendeth these doings and writing of the purging or altering of old Bertram hee saith the Index hath done him no iniury when it hath done him that fauour which is done to some of the ancients as Tertullian and Origen Them and some others though very ancient Gratian quite cut off and the Church hath this authority saith hee to proscribe whole bookes or any parts of them great or small Thus Gretzerus And indeed of the two it were better to proscribe or cut them off as no witnesses then to corrupt and make them false witnesses to speake what they thought not or what is not true But for a Particular Church to proscribe or corrupt all the witnesses that speake against her is vntollerable See more in D. Morton Apologia Catholica part 2. lib. 2. c. 17 In the former point of Counterfeits the Children begot the Fathers In this point of Corruption the Children will teach the Fathers to speake and alter their testimonies and testaments at their pleasure §. 9. Index Expurg Belg. fol. 4. per Iunium edit pag. 12. 3 By deuised glosses and witty but wrong interpretations they wrest the sentences of the Fathers to meane otherwise then the Fathers intended This is confessed by the Diuines of the Vniuersity of Doway speaking of Bertrams booke The title Vt liber Bertrami presbyteri de Corp. sang Domini tolerari emendatus queat Iudicium Vniversitatis Duacensis Censoribus probatum Then their iudgement followes with some reasons why they rather mend the book then forbid it lest the forbidding should make men more desirously seeke it and greedily reade it and condemne the Church for abrogating all antiquity that is alleadged against them c. Therefore they will vse it as they doe other ancient Catholike bookes which they deliuer in these words Cumâ— in Catholicis veteribus alijs plâ—â—â—os feramus errores extenuemus excusemus excogâ—â—â—â—omento persaepe negemus commodum ijs seasum â—ffingamus dum opponuntur in disputationibus aut in confactionibus cum aduersarijs non videmus cur non candem aequitatem diligentem recognitionem mereatur Bertramus c. that is Seeing in other ancient Catholike writers we beare with many errors and we extenuate excuse and oftentimes by witty expositions deny and dâ—uise a commodious sense vnto them when they are opposed in disputations and conflicts with our aduersaries we see no reason why Bertram may not deserue the same equity and diligent recognition In this passage we may obserue these things 1 They acknowledge many errours to be in ancient Writers whom yet they account Catholickes and of their owne Church or Religion Otherwise they must haue a small and the Protestants a large Church 2 That those opinions though many which they Call errors make for their aduersaries the Protestants and are against Romes present doctrine and so obiected by the Protestants 3 How they auoyd them euen by applying their Art Wit and Learning Gods talents committed to them to obscure the Truth corrupt the witnesse thereof deceiue the simple and gull the learned making all beleeue that the ancient Writers are nothing at all against them but fully for them by peruerting their allegations to speake quite contrary to the Authors meaning O wit and learning wickedly bestowed conscience seared poore people miserably deluded And note further 4 the generality of this practise Iudicium Vniuersitatis Duacensis Censoribus approbatum confessed professed by a whole Vniuersity at once and deliuered for their deliberate iudgement and approoued by the most learned and iudicious censors appointed to that great office by the Hierarchy of the Church of Rome though this practice was a long time closely carried in darkenesse yet now it is defended in the open light by Gretzer the Iesuite §. 10. 4 The Roman Doctors may bring in whole Armies of witnesses on their side when they change the question and proue what no body denies a Bedel letters to Wadworth pag. 109. As when the question is whether the pope haue a Monarchy ouer all Christians an vncontroulable Iurisdiction an Infallible Iudgement c. b Bellar. de summo Pontifice lib. 2. cap. 15. 16 answered by D. Field lib. 5. cap. 35 36. Bellarmine alleadgeth a number of Fathers Greeke and Latin to proue onely that Saint Peter had a primacy of honour and authority which is farre short of that supremacy which the popes now claime and which is the question So to proue the verity of Christs Body and Blood in the Lords Supper c Bellar de Eucharistia lâ—b 2. toto Bellarmine spends the whole booke in citing the Fathers of seuerall Ages To what purpose when the