Sicubi audieru eos qui dicuntur Christi non a Iesu Christo sed a quoquam alio nuncupari vtputa Marcionistas valentinianos montenses scito non Ecclesiam Christi sed Antichristi esse synagogam but froÌ„ other men as Marcionists valentinians or such like as are now a daies Lutherans Zuinglians c. be you well assured that they belong not to the church of Christ but to the Sinagogue of Antichrist Out of this sound doctrine of the ancient fathers and approued doctors M. Abbots obiection is easily solued For albeit there be many erring congregations which would gladlie bee called churches and do chaleÌ„ge to theÌ„selues the name and authoritie of the church which the church of Rome doth not comprehend yet those congregations being no more true churches then Apes be men the church of Rome maie bee truly said to compreheÌ„d all the Catholike church though it do not containe any of theÌ„ they being for their ertors in faith and disvnioÌ„ in matter of religion by the verdict of the auncieÌ„t fathers esteemed rather schismatikes parts of sathaÌ„s sinagogue then any members of Christs Catholike church I am not ignoraÌ„t that there be certain good fellowe Libertins who more willing to please men with plausible doctrine then to acquaint them with Gods iust iudgments And to make some shew that theire church hath been alwaies a member of the visible Catholike church do teach that even schismatikes and heretikes so they erre not in some fundamentall points of religion be notwithstanding reall and true members of the Catholike church Against whose error I meane god willing to make a chapter in this booke wherfore I will not here stand to confute it But admitting it here for passable I do not see any reason why in the waie of that opinion the Roman church may not comprehend even those vnpure churches too For albeit they do not acknowledg the chiefty of the Roman church nor agree with it in all articles of faith yet they acknowledging the Roman to hold all those fundamentall articles of faith must needs grant that they do agree with it in all points that are of necessitie to bee beleeued On the other side they cannot deny but that they are all descended out of the same Roman church not being able to shew any other stocke or pedegree out of which their church is issued and sprung why then should they not yeeld that honor vnto the same as to acknowledg themselues members of her from whom they deriue their descent and pedigree and with whom they do agree in all fundameÌ„tall points of doctrine though in some other not necessarie in their opinion to be beleeued they do dissent from her Neither is that example of the Roman Empire well applied by M. Abbot For albeit there were and bee many kingdomes in the world besids the Roman Empire not subiect therto nor any meÌ„bers therof yet there be not nor cannot bee many christian churches wherof the one is not a member of the other For all Christian creeds do teach vs to beleeue that there is but one only church not many Ephes 4. Cant. 6.8 One spouse of Christ one body of Christ vna est columba mea c. which is the common doctrine of the auncient fathers after S. Ciprian and Saint Austin who haue made whole treatises of the vnitie of the church So that though there be many distinct kingdomes independent one of the other yet there cannot bee many such churches but all and euerie particuler true church is a true member of the one only Catholike church All of them perfectly agreeing togither in society of faith in vnity of sacraments and in forme of government Consequently the head mother church such as before I haue proued the Roman church to bee may convenientlie bee vsed to signifie all the rest No man denies the more proper signification of the church of Rome to bee the city or Diocese of Rome it self in which sense Albertus Pighius doth truly say of it That it is a particular church and not to be taken for the vniuersall church Notwithstanding it is in more large signification often taken for the whole Catholike church not only of moderne writers but also of the most ancient and holy fathers to witnes wherof I take these few following Saint Ciprian sent the copie of Antonianus letter to Cornelius bishop of Rome Cipr. epistola 52. to assure him that the said Antonian did comunicate with him that is with the Catholike church vt scires illum tecum hoc est cum Catholica ecclesia comunicare where that most learned prelate and glorious Martir put as a thing by it self well knowen that to comunicate with the pope of Rome is to communicate with the Catholike church with him accordeth Saint Ambrose Ambros oratione defratic Satyro relating how his brother Satyrus was cast on shore in Sardinia or therabout where Catholiks and heretiks were blended and mixt together and being desirous to bee baptised by a Catholike Bishop when one was presented to him to do that good office he to trie whâ—ther he were Catholike or no demaunded of him Si cum Catholicis hoc est cum Romanis consentiret If he did agree with the Catholikes that is to say with the Romanes Putting as we do now Roman for a certaine marke and as it were an explication of a true Catholike The like doth Saint Hierom when he asked of Ruffinus what faith hee professed Hic oni Apol 〈◊〉 câ—â— Ruffinum whether that that florished in the church of Rome or that which was contayned in the bookes of Origine Si Romanam responderit ergo Catholici sumus If hee answere the Roman faith then bewe Catholiks and free from the errors of Origen where he setteth the Roman faith to signifie the Catholike faith yea sheweth that of the Roman faith Christians are denominated Catholikes The same doth the auncient christian poet Prudentius chaunt in these verses Fugite o miseri execranda Nouati Schismata Catholicis vos reddite populis Prudent in hymno de Hipolito Vnasedes vigeat prisco quae condita seclo est Quam Paulus tenuit quaÌ„que cathedra Petri. O poore soules from Nouatus cursed schisme do you flie And with speede yeeld your selues vnto the Catholike party That only seate florish which in auncient time founded S. Paul vpheld and where the chaire of Peter was grounded This godly and holy man esteemed it all one to yeeld your self to the Catholike partie and to vnite your self to the sea of Rome So did that puissant Christian Emperor Theodosius the younger when hee exhorted the Bishop of Berca and his followers to declare themselues approued priests of the Roman religion imploing the Roman for the Catholike religion which was with all persons so vsuall and current in those better times Concil Ephesin Tom. 1. c. 10. that even the old rotten Arrian heretikes did by the same name of Roman designe all true
Etenim cum hinc ob consilij maturitatem longam maximarum rerum experientiam prope Regem ad maxima Reipub. negotia peragenda sedere compellimini illinc vero propter senilem infirmitatem amplissimam vestram prouinciam peragrare quomodo se quisque suo in munere gerat perlustrare non possetis adiutorem vobis elegistis nobilissimum Dominum D. Franciscum de Harlay virum omnium virtutum laude florentem qui ex illustri ortus familia inter magnates sanè si voluisset spleÌ„dide viuere potuisset sed ab ineunte aetate saeculi pompis nuncium remittens in altissimarum rerum contemplationem mentem suam tanto studio tantaque ingenij foelicitate intendit vt non in Latinis modo Graecis literis sed in omni scientiarum genere tam miros breui tempore fecerit progressus vt inter grauissimos Theologos Parisienses iuuenis summa cum laude professus sit qui rerum etiam occultarum cognitioni raram quandam prudentiam coniungens ad res magnas sacras eximiè gerendas admodum habeatur idoneus Hic talis ac tantus iuuenis vestram sustinens personam ac grauiore vestro illustratus consilio gregem vestâ—um vigilantissimè inspiciet omnia quae ab boni Pontificis munus spectare intelligit prudentissime administrabit Quum igitur prouinciam nobis proximam ab Illustrissima D. vestra adeo omni ex parte excellenter gubernari perspexerimus mirum videri non debet si nos qui omni proprij Episcopi auxilio penitus destituimur ad tanti Archiepiscopi patrocinium confugiamus Itaque humillimè ab Illustrissima vestra Amplitudine petimus vt in suam nos clientelam benigne admittere libellum hunc perpetui nostri erga Illustrissimam D. vestram obsequij quasi arrhabonem recipere dignetur Deumque Opt. Max. quotidie rogabimus vt Illustrissimam D. vestram ecclesiae suae quam diutissime incolumem conseruet Parisiis xxi Nouembris Anno Domini 1614. AN ANSVVERE VNTO M R ABBOTS EPISTLE DEDICAtorie GOOD Christian reader I being prisoner by the gatehouse in westminster when Mr. R. Abbots last booke intituled the true ancient Roman Catholike came forth against mee was you may be sure wel inough looked vnto for writing then any replie Since my enlargement I was a long time occupied partlye in flanders partlye in Paris about ordinary busines well knowen to many so that I had small respite to reade ouer that which M. Abbots had written against mee At leÌ„gth coming to haue better leasure albeit I haue neuer since bin free from the same care and not willing to spend my spare time idly but to set in haÌ„d with some peece of worke I was by my graue and vnderstanding frinds advised to begin with a confutation of the same booke as coming forth latest and being indeed the only booke wich M. Abbot had labored in defence of himself against mee I at my louing frinds instaÌ„ce perusing ouer that booke more diligentlie found it fuller of words tauntes and cauills thaÌ„ of weightie and sound matter and would therfore rather haue made choise of some other booke of more importance not making anie great reckning of his vntrue imputations and bitter speeches against my self bicause the most honorable prelates of the primitiue Church and best deserving Doctors whose bookes I am not Worthie to carrie after them writing against bitter and broadmouthed Heretikes never lightlie escaped better cheape for what these mild hornets wanted in sound reasonnig that they were wont to supplie in foule railing My kind frinds replied that how litle account soeuer I made of mine owne interest yet M. Abbot being now growen a maÌ„ of name and chosen for the divinitie reader in the famous vniuersitie of Oxford that ought not to bee contemned which hee and his frinds deemed worthie the print Besides he pretendeth it to bee a peece of great price long premeditated and esteemed by him a mater worthie a large treatise and therfore not to bee lett passe as a thing of naught without an answer whervpon in part and withall to iustifie that in my booke which hee catcheth at as least iustifiable belike for he doth not answere it orderlie as it lieth though it were but a litle one but picketh out certen parcelles I in fine resolued to examine brieflie the weight and worth of that his booke which hee surnameth à counterproofe not vnproperlie bicause hee doth in it verie often hunt the counter as they say that is rather runne vp and downe forward and backward turne this waie and that waie verie idly and impertinently then fall to any serious proofe or pursue the points in questioÌ„ directlie Notwithstanding I will not deale with M. Abbot after such a hafting and abrupt manner as hee doth with mee by cutting of at the first clapp fowerscore eight pages of my small discourse without amy word of auswere therunto mangling also the middle of it and leauing out a great part of the latter end but will begin with him at his Epistle Dedicatory and thenceforth prosecute it orderlie as it lies not omitting by the way anie matter of moment though I meane not to sett downe his whole text word by word bicause that would cost mee more the printing then it is worth by agreat deale And wee here in banishment haue not so much spare monie but the summe and substance of all hee handleth shal bee sincerely related as the iudicious and vpright Reader if hee please to conferre this my answere with that his booke shall easilie perceiue Having in few words shewed the reasons that moued mee to vndergoe this worke and the method that I meane to obserue therin without anie further preface I will presentlie come to M. Abbots Epistle Dedicatorie in the first entrie wherof hee seemes to plaie the triuant and for want either of iudgment or of fitter inuention to fall into a faultie Exordium by the skilfull in that art called Commune comon which his aduerse party maie as well if not better vse against himselfe then hee doth against his aduersarie Neither needes it anie other answer but a plaine returne of the same wordes with a verie little alteration Let vs trie whether M. Abbots proeme proposed against vs will not in the iudgement of an indifferent Reader serue for vs against them Thus it begmneth Mr. Abbots text turned against his ovvne partie MOST gratious and renowmed prince such is the malice and furie of Antichrist and his army of priestes as Gregorie calleth theÌ„ in oppugning the Religion and faith of Christ Greg lib. 4. Ep. 38. as giueth cause to vs that fight for Christ to stand continuallie vpon our guard and to be readie still in armes to entertaine the assaultes that are made continuallie against vs. W. B. THE first staffe of this wartier like sentence bicause it hath in it the names of Antichrist and Priests maie at the first blush seeme to some protestantes to hitt vs but
and to stop the aduersaries mouth that hee maie haue no thing further to replie I haue according to Tertullians rule endevored to make truth to vse all her strength I haue taken time conuenient to levie such troupes and bands that I maie not need to doubt of the victorie compare these places togither and tell mee whether they bee not plaine contradictorie to handle questions positiuelie and brieflie And to treate of them so fullie and in such exquisite manner that to the verie aduersarie nothing should be left to replie there he wrote that hee tooke convenient leasure to leavie such troupes and bandes that hee needed not to doubt of victory here having seene his said troupes and bands harassed and defeated hee is of another mind and vpon better advise acknowledgeth that his former furniture was slender and that hee handled the matter but superficiallie whether of these should the good Reader beleeue both hee cannot being so contrarie the one to the other yet being one and the same great Doctor that hath sett downe both in print and recomended both to his reader he may hap to stagger which of them he is to take for true M. Abbot so highlie magnified there his vttermost endevor to discusse those matters plentifullie and exactly that he left to himself here no colour for this poore excuse which he cometh in withall of handling these questions positiuely well if the maister of the worke himself surveying it better ouer vpon my aduertisment do thinke his former arguments and answeres which then he tooke to bee compleate and insoluble to bee both slender and feeble I make no doubt but that the discreet reader will doe him so much honor and credit as to follow his iudgmeÌ„t therin and to esteeme no better of them then hee himself doth that fauoureth them most and should know them best surelie mee thinkes it must needes be a sufficient wrning to anie man to beware how hee beleeueth him who doth not beleeue himself in his former writings Now to that bigge bragge of his that hee hath in a brief advertisment trowneed mee terribly like a Saturnian frowning angrie scholemaister scourged me accordinglie God bee thanked his words be but wind for the poore scholler so piteously whipped by him feeles no paine at all But what meant hee to hide that Cholericke pamphlet of his written in more hast belike then good speede in such a corner that a man must ride to the latter end of the third part of his long tedious bookes ere he can find it out well sith it hath pleased him to range it in that place so farr out of the waie he cannot bee offended that I do not answere it till I come thither in the meane season let the iudicious reader take a scantling by this my answere vnto his worke of longer meditation how easilie that short pamphlett written both in hast and in passion maie bee answered M. AB BVT in that reproofe of his verie litle it is that hee hath said for iustifying what hee himself had before written not being able in deed to defend any one pointe therof onelie hee found some what to cavill concerning my debating of the name Catholike and the comparison I made betwixt the old and new Roman church and therof as touching the matter in substance he hath framed his booke W. B. VVhat he should saie or doe that dealeth with such a shameles writer I assure thee good Reader I do not well know my booke is extant and in manie mens hands as he cannot bee ignorant Let them all or whosoeuer els pleaseth to reade it be iudges betwene vs whether from the verie preface vnto the end of my booâ—â— I doe any thing els then pleade in iustification of what I had before written putting downe word by word first what exception M. Abbot had taken against the same then answering directlie to euery pointe and parcell therof must he not then if any grace be left in him blush at these his words that I said very little for iustifieing what I had before written where more is saied to that very purpose I think then hee wil be well able to answere these seaven yeeres he that in the Entrie of his booke sticketh not to tell such grosse tales what credit doth he deserue in the residue he confesseth that I said something of the namâ— Catholike and of his comparison betwene the old and new Roman church which is true but when he signifieth that therof in substance my whole booke was framed he goeth about to deceiue and that very grosly for besides sundrie other matters I treated of these very three points in particuler which M. Abbot pretends to be most pertinent to his purpose To wit the first that Saint Paule both in his Epistle to the Romanes and in the rest doth teach most branches of the Romane doctrine which is handled from the page of my booke 134. vnto 149. The secoÌ„d that so did also some of the most holie best learned ancient Bishops of Rome froÌ„ p. 149. vnto p. 219. And as plainly against the third point I declared that not so much as one heresie condeÌ„ned of old is by the moderne church of Rome reviued or countenanced but that the protestants do in expresse tearmes revive boulster out and vphold manie old rotten errours and heresies recorded and condemned for such by the most sound sincere and Iuditiouse witnesses of the primitiue church S. Augustin Sainct Ambrose Sainct Hierome S. Epiphanius and others see the page 251. and manie after all which being to bee found most certain and true with a wett finger as they saie by turning onlie to the places quoted the reader if he haue any care to find out the truth and to avoid errors will I hope take notice at the length of M. Abbots most palpable and notorious leasings who would make him beleeve that there were nothing of substaÌ„ce in my booke of anie of those matters R. ABBOT TO this therfore I haue addressed my description of the ancient Roman Catholike forbearing that more orderlie course which I had intended for the performance of this worke and chosing rather to follow him step by step as formerlie I haue done onlie beginning where he cometh to the purpose and leaving all his vagaries and affected discourses to hee more briefly touched in the end of all W. B. YOV may here discouer why M. Abbot was bold to straine a point and to saie that I only touched the name Catholike and that comparison that hee forsooth addressing an answere thervnto might be taken to haue if not proceeded orderly yet to haue spoken to the purpose directly But it being euident and cleare that I handled as well those other three pointes and in the same order as he propounded them everie vnderstanding man may perceaue that his purpose was rather to shift from orderly proceeding and to thrust out some such stuffe as he had ready for the present to entertaine his favorable
reader and for the rest to take a longer daie wheras he saies that he hath followed me step by step he should rather haue said leape by leap and that with such vnexpected nimble dexteritie in a man of his declining age and heauy constitution that at the verie first feese he hath overlept fowerscore and seauen pages of mine smoothing the matter ouer as though all that had been vagaries volūtarie discourses of mine owne when as in deed there is not one passage of them but in answere to another of his there also set downe as everie one maie see And that the reader maie take a vieu of his substantiall answering my booke maie it please him to consider that in my whole booke there are but two hundred fourescore and six pages in quarto vnto threescore and one wherof M. Abbots answere doth extend onelie he beginning at the 87. and ending at the 148. and yet hath he chopped of by the waie 7 pages at one blowe as he cōfessesh himself in the 227. page of his booke so that in all he hath answered vnto 54 sides that is 27 leaues in quarto which doth not amonut to 7 sheetes of paper Now out of these 7 sheets you must also draw M. Abbots owne text which is comprised within mine and taketh vp neere hand the third part therof so that in true reckoning his prettie thick booke in quarto is but an answere to little more then fower sheets of mine And yet the vanitie of this braggadochio is such that he would make his simple reader beleeue that he hath coursed me Iolily following me step by step and leaving nothing of substance in all my book vnanswered R. AB OF this worke I haue finished but one only part wherin I haue at large discouered their vaine ostentation of the Catholike name and faith and shewed plainelie that the Romish religion accordeth not with Saint Pauls Epistle to the Romanes nor with his other Epistles which M. Bishrop Calleth to assist him bicause he findeth nothing to helpe him in that Epistle to the Romanes In all which I have been carefull gentle reader to giue thee satisfaction by the Cleere testimonie either of some learned Bishop of Rome or by some other famouslie approued and comended by that church Being now required a service of another kind so that I cannot yet goe forward with the rest I haue thought good to publish this in the meane time If I haue promised anie thing in this that is not here performed expect it in that that is to come Assist mee I praie thee with thy praiers vnto Almighlie God by whose grace I hope in due time to supplie that that is wanting now w. B. BEcause I haue as I hope sufficientlie displaied in my former booke the mans vaine humor in presuming aboue measure vpon his owne strength and shewed that his vaunting words do farr surpasse his slender works Therfore I do now onlie desiret the reader to suspend his Iudgment till he come to behold the combat it self which I trust to obtaine the sooner because M. Abbot himself notwithstanding his former florish seemeth here to feare some after clapp And therfore intreateth his gentle reader to beare with him if he hath not performed in this that which he promised and to praie to God to help him forth with it and then to expect by tom long the carrier some more worthie peece of worke for a supplie I am glad to see some more modestie in the man then was wont to bee we haue not now as he fondly vaunted in his first book the whole truth furnished and set out with all its strength and such troupes and bands levied as should fright and put to flight all the world but one part of a poore peece of worke wherin he doubteth also whether he hath performed so much as he promised seing the world so amended and such a towardly disposition in him my poore praiers shall not be wanting that he may haue grace to see his wn weaknes to vnderstand daily better and better the badnes of their cause to feele more and more the feeblenes of mans wit setting it self against the might of Gods truth and so by little and little to retire himself from the bolstering out of that which he perceiueth not to be substātiall and sound and begin at length to employ his talents to the honour of him and in defence of his cause that hath bestowed them vpon him In the meane season goods ir what reason haue you to except against mee for employing the other Epistles of S. Paule aswell as that to the Romanes in favor of the Roman religion be not proofes taken out of anie of the other as pregnant and forcible as if they were taken out of that are they not all alike canonicall and of the same divine authoritie you doe but dreame when you imagine that proofes taken out of that to the Romanes be more proper then others for confirmation of the Romain faith should not the Romanes beleeve anie thing deliuered in the other Epistles of S. Paule as firmelie receiue it as currantlie as if it had been written to themselues Againe that Epistle was not penned by the Romans to declare their faith but was by the Apostle addressed to them for their further instruction and consolation wherfore it can be no more properly called a profession of their faith then of anie other Christians everie Christian being as well bound to beleeue all written therin as the Romanes M. Abbot contrarie to his owne knowledg eie-sight doth saie that I craved aide of the other Epistles of S. Paul because I could find nothing to helpe mee in that to the Romanes for I do alleage many texts out of that verie Epistle in proofe of the Catholike cause I desire thee reader but to turne to the 135. page of my booke and if he there do not find that I haue emploied as manie sentences therof to mainteine our cause as M. Abbot that braggs so much of it hath done to vphold theirs then let him take M. Abbot for a true mā but it being certain that I haue as plentifully produced testimonies out of it how canst thou choose but censure M. Abbot for a man that makes small conscience what hee saies of his adversaries writing finallie to vnderpropp his credit which hee saw tottering and like to decay he auerreth that hee hath been carefull to giue his Reader satisfaction in his allegations vsed in this booke hauing made choice onlie either of some learned Bishops of Rome or of others famously approued by that church But what if that bee not so neither doth he not by heaping one false tale in the neck of another much hasten on the downfall of his reputation and creditt who is ignorant that the Roman church hath condemned by name Cornelius Agrippas book de vanitate scientiarum and yet M. Abbot page 851 doth solemnly cite him for one of his grave Authors All the learned
know that the church of Rome doth not greatlie approue Erasmus censures and annotations vpon S. Hieromes and other Doctors workes yet is he one of M. Abbots alleaged Authors page 72 Now for watsons Quodlibets Anianus fables and other such like puddles out of which M. Abbot takes some dreggs to giue his gentle reader satisfaction shall I saie or rather infection I say no more but that they must needes be very kind favorable yea foolish and simple readers too that will take such base coyne for good payment And M. Abbot therby is conuinced to bee no man of his word for hauing promised nothing but taken out of Authors famously approued by vs he doth notwithstanding produce manie writers of no estimation at all in our church Thus haue I briefly runne ouer all M. Abbots preface that the whole drist of his booke might bee disclosed and that the vnpartiall reader might withall take a tast of the manner of his dealing which if it cōsist much of craking shifting and misreporting he maie cōiecture what he is to expect of him in that which followeth I haue stood here vpon the particulers to shew the reader what aduantage I might take of his words if I would do the like in his whole booke But well weighing how small profitt the reader should reape out of anie such verball contention I will vtterlie avoid it and in as short and perspicuous sort as may bee I will relate trulie the sence and substance of what M. Abbot saith and ther vnto frame my answere That the good reader may leese no time but with ease and speede trace out and find where the truth resteth God grant him grace to embrace and follow it and in his praiers to recommend vnto the father of light from whom all good giftes do descend my poore endeuors that through his heavenlie blessing they may yeeld that fruite which I desire And that both they and I may serve his divine maiestie faithfully all the daies of this life and finallie through his infinite mercie obtayne life everlasting Amen AN ANSVVERE VNTO M. ABBOTS FIRST CHAPTER The contents whether the church of Rome doth vainly and absurdly chalenge to her self the name of the Catholike church THIS first paragraff or section M. Abbot doth make to iustifie the manner of his proceeding before hee come to the matter but before all hee thought it expedient how vndecent soever it were to begin with a florish in his owne commendation thus R. AB AS for the victorie which I ominated to my self thankes be to God I haue obtayned it being become Maister of the field And M. Bishop enforced to leaue the mayne battle contented now out of a corner to thrust an ambush that hee maie make some shew that he is not quite spent I triūph over him in his owne conscience W. B. NAturam expellas furca licet vsque recurret see how hard a thing it is to driue a man from his old by as M. Abbot hath been pretilie well canvased for his vnmannerly vaunting of his owne doings yet hee cannot bee taught to leaue it custome is another nature what will you he dwelleth belike farr from good neighbors and is therfore inforced to praise himselfe well if hee will needes proue himself a wisard and one that can ominate and tell good fortunes before they fall how should I hinder him I willinglie confesse that hee doth but his dutie to thanke the Lord for his good luck and might for more complete ioy haue called in his fellowe Ministers with their wiues to haue congratulated with him But to put the censure of his triumph to his adversaries conscience seemeth to excessiue an amplification for hee was cock sure to be condemned by me for singing a triumph before the victorie that before had told him plainely inough that I scarse found anie weightie point in his booke worth the answering and that there was better proofe of their doctrine in two leaues of M. Perkins treatise In my preface of the reproofe then in ten of his yea I moreover made so bold as to tell him that his printed papers were more fitt and proper to stopp mustard potts Ibidem Page 94. then anie meane schollers mouth was there anie reason after such plaine warning given him before hand of my dislike once to imagin if hee had not been wonderfully conceited of himself that I so highlie esteemed of his writings that I would without faile giue him the prick and price But why do I exact reason of an Augurer or wiseman as they call him that will needs dine into the secrets of my conscience may not hee peraduēture by helpe of his Astronomicall skill see there that which I cannot espie my selfe In good sadnes honest sir tell mee I praie you why you saie that I left the maine battle and was content out of a corner to thrust out an ambush when as I marched in the face of your forces and encountred with the forefront of your battle setting downe your discourse even as your self had ranged it making answere to the verie first words and so continuing without interruption verie impertinently then do you charge mee with lying in ambush and setting on you out of corners These odd tearmes of an old rustie ragged soldiour may be much more properlie returned on your selfe that hath leapt ouer so manie scores of the first pages of my booke and left as many of the last vnanswered slipping over also some of the middest what is to ly in ambush and to sett on a booke out of corners if this answering of it by snatches bee not but leaving these idle speeches wherwith M. Abbots book is stiff būbasted let vs come faire and roundly to the matter which in this section is to shew whether he hath proceeded orderlie or no in his discourse that the learned reader maie the better bee able to iudge of it I will summarily rehearse how wee fell into this Question whether the Romane church bee the Catholike church or noe I in the Epistle Dedicatory of my first booke aganist M. Perkins humblie besought his Maiestie that he would bee pleased to embrace that true Catholike and Apostolike faith in which his most royall progenitors liued and died whervnto M. Abbot answered that my petition was needles bicause his Maiestie had already embraced the same true Catholike and Apostolike faith which to prove he made as it were this argument The Catholike church is that which is spred over all the world but the Roman church is not spred over all the world therfore the Roman church is not the Catholike church To which I replied that granting the maior or first proposition to bee true the minor or second was not so direct to his purpose as if he should haue subsumed but the English church the faith wherof his Maiestie embraceth is spred over all the world or at least the English church is a true member of that church which is spred over all the world
giue mee leaue to imploy one probable presumption that in my poore opinion doth much fortifie the same It is collected out of those letters which in ancient time were called literae formatae and granted either vnto Bishops at their first creation or vnto priests that were dismissed by licence from their ordinary This kind of letters was in great vse in the primitiue church for no stranger was admitted into communion among the Catholiks without them The invention of these leters is referred to the first generall councell holden at Nice and the forme of them is recorded authentically in the end of the Chalcedon councell immediatlie before the letters of the Illustrious persons that wrote in or about that councell vnder this title Atticus Episcopus qualiter formata Epistola fiat In this epistle fower letters principally were set for an assured token that hee in whose favour they were granted was a sound Catholike The three former letters were the first letters of the father of the sonne and of the holy Ghost to testifie that hee believed aright in the blessed Trinitie and therfore was no Arrian Sabellian Macedonian or such like heretike the fourth letter in that formall Epistle was a the first letter of S. Peters name therby to signifie that the bearer was receiued into the vnitie of that church of which S. Peter as chief governor kept the keies the other letters of his name that graÌ„ted that Epistle Distinct 73. ca. 1. to whom it was granted I omitt as not necessary to this purpose hee that will may see a copiâ— of such an Epistle sett downe at large in Gratian where the misterie also of these letters is deciphered to bee such as I haue declared namely that the fourth letter was put for S. Peters name to make knowen that the bearer therof was a true member of that church in qua Petro datum est ius ligandi atque absoluendi in which to S. Peter was giuen the right of binding and loosing Out of which notable monument of antiquitie I draw this argument so well assured it was and a thing so notoriously knowne and approved in those purer daies of the primitiue church that S. Peter and the popes of Rome his successors were the chief governors of Christs church and the insoluble band of the vnitie therof that the first letter of S. Peters name was chosen for an vndoubted badge and token of being a sound member receiued into the vnity of the said Catholike church for why should the first letter of S. Peters name rather then any other of the Apostles bee taken for such an infallible marke of society with the catholike church had it not been a cleere overuled case that hee who like an even squared stone lay vpon that rocke and did adhere vnto the head of the church was vndoubtedly a true member therof This argument as it shall serue for a coÌ„clusion of that which goeth before so it will make a conuenient passage to that which followeth in M. Abbots text 15 There was saith hee a church when there was no Roman church at all how then could that church bee builded vpon the Roman church This is a verie poore obiection for speaking as wee now do of the church which was since our Saviours time if hee take that season next to Christs ascension S. Peter was head of that church during his owne life and after him the Bishops of Rome his lawfull successors No man ever said that the church or Bishop of Rome was head of the church before S. Peter had placed his seate there If M. Abbot will accord vs that ever since that time the church of Rome hath been head of the rest as in truth it hath been wee will easily grant him that before it had no such priviledg Another like slugg M. Abbot thrusteth forth thus If the church of Rome bee that rock and other churches bee builded thervpon then it would follow that the gates of hell should never haue prevailed against any other of those churches but it hath prevayled against them Ergo. True good Sir if those other churches had stuck close to the said rocke the gates of hell had never prevailed against them but they foolishly flitting from that firme rocke were sowsed in the surging seas and swallowed vp by the gulfe of hell M. Abbot saw this to bee so full an answere that hee could not tell what to saie to it but that wee haue no assurance that the church of Rome shall continue alwaies builded vpon Christ Iesus this is M. Abbots last refuge and to it as to a safe anchor he doth twenty times fly in this book wherfore it shall haue a full answer in its due place but let vs first see whether the Bishops of Rome be S. Peters lawfull successors because that comes next M. Abbot doth either graunt it to bee true or at least hee supposeth it for true for hee disproues it not wherfore I need not staÌ„d loÌ„g about it so much the rather because it is recorded by S. Iraeneus Iren. l. 3. v. 3. Tertull. de prescr 36. Euseb l. 2. hist c. 2. Epiphar heres 27. Optat. mi leuit l. 2. perm Hieron de viris ill 1. August Epistola 1â—5 Tertullian Eusebius Optatus mileuitanus S. Hierom S. Austin and briefly by the full consent of all that haue made anie Catalogue of S. Peters successors It is evident and confessed by both sides that our Saviour established such a forme of government in his church that hee would haue to continew as long as the same church continued that is alwaies to the worlds end which was according to our doctrine that one should bee head and supreme gouernor over all the rest to preserue vnity in faith and conformity in rites of religion And by name that one was S. Peter for his life time All which I haue before proved out of holy scriptures and the ancient fathers S. Peter finally making choise of Rome for the seat of his Bishoprick liued there many yeres and in the end died Bishop of Rome wherfore they that were choseÌ„ Bishops of Rome were to succede him as in that seate so in that supreme governmeÌ„t of Christs church which daily experience teacheth vs. for wee see that whosoever is chosen bishop of any place for example of Canterburie hee presentlie vpon his installing entreth vpon all the priuiledges of honour and government which the former Bishops his predecessors died possessed of so that no sooner any man is created Archbishop of Canterbury but that imÌ„ediatly hee is therby Metropolitane of England and hath comanding authority ouer all the Bishops of that prouince with law full Iurisdiction to heare and determyne all such causes that by appeale do come to his courts In like maÌ„ner Linus being chosen Bishop of Rome after the death of S. Peter entred into possession of full power authoritie not onlie ouer the Diocese of Rome but also over all the Bishops of Christs church
but M. Abbot saīth ouer lauishly and as it were dotingly that I do report them falsly for he himself as you shall presently see cannot denie but that I alleage them truly Let vs examin the particulers Ambros in oratione de obitu satyri fratris S. Ambrose say I tooke it to bee all one to saie the Catholike or the Roman church yea he putteth the Romā church as an explication of the Catholike church His good brother satyrus after a shipwrack arrived in Sardinia which was infected with the Luciferiā heresie being carefull not to cōmunicate with any heretikes demāded of that Bishop whom he had sent for to baptise him Aduocauit ad se Episcopum nec vllam veram putauit nisi vera fidei gratiam percontatusque ex eo est vtrumnam cum Episcopis Catholicis hoc est cum Romana Ecclesia conueniret sorte ad id locorum in schismate regionis illius ecclesiae erat whether he did accord with the Catholike Bishops that is with the church of Rome He feared lest the name Catholike was not sufficient to describe true beleevers in an hereticall countrie bicause heretikes do oftentimes call themselues Catholikes and therfore asked whether they were such Catholikes as accorded with the church of Rome that is whether he was a Roman Catholike or no giving vs to vnderstand that they onlie were true Catholikes and onlie to be communicated withall in holie rites who accorded with the church of Rome in faith and religion All this is so true and evident that M. Abbot cannot denie any one word of it Did he not then spitefully over-reach when hee said that I reported my authors falsly He hath no other shift then to saie that in those daies the church of Rome as the most famous and chief church was most fit to bee named in such a case But now the case is altered bicause the church of Rome is fallen from that eminent perfection and is it self now called into question This answere is nothing els then in plaine tearmes petere principium that is to giue that for the solution as a confessed truth which is the maine question is he so destitute of cōmon sence as to thinke that we will or ought to take that for currant coyne and good paiment which we hold for very refuse and drosse All the world knowes that we beleeve the church of Rome not to be changed in any one article of faith wherfore he ought not to returne to vs for a knowen truth that the church of Rome is changed yet the poore mans feeble forces being quite spent he is constrayned to giue the same vnreasonable answere againe againe for he maketh the same answer vnto the like testimony taken out of S. Hierom who demādeth of Ruffinus speaking of his faith which he calleth his faith Hieron Apol. 1. c. Ruff. Fidem suam quam vocat eamne qua Romana pollet Ecclesia an illam quae in Originis voluminibus continetur si Romanam responderit ergo Catholici sumus qui nihil de Originis errore transtulimus either that which the church of Rome professeth or that which is contayned in the books of Origen If he answere the Roman faith then are wee Catholikes c. which doth implie that it was all one with S. Hierom to saie the Roman faith and the true Catholike faith All which M. Abbot confesseth to be true and therby cleereth mee from that imputation of misreporting my authors Afterward he asketh what is here said of the Roman church that might not likewise haue bene said of any other church professing the true faith well let vs admitt that the same might haue been said of any other church vnder that conditiō that they had professed the true faith yet because the ancient Fathers were not so well assured of the perpetuall infallibilitie of any other church as they were of the church of Rome therfore they preferred the communion of the Roman Church before all other and therin ordinarilie made their instances And for that M. Abbot doth euer and anone come in with this answer that the church of Rome was then the true Church but now it is cleane changed and takes this to be as sharpe as the sword at Delphos and as fit to cut all knotts asonder that can not otherwise be loosed I will here set downe some reasons which did induce these holy Doctors and much more ought to persuade vs to beleeue that the church of Rome shall euer continue firme in the faith The ancients made no doubte but that Christes Church should continue to the worlds ende and retaine the same forme of government which he him self had established in it which most Protestants now are also come to confesse but as I haue before prooued the same most learned and blessed fathers both beleeued and taught the Bishops and Church of Rome to be as it were the rock and foundation of Christs church wherfore like as the house must needes fall to the grounde whose foundation faileth so the catholick church could not stand inuiolable to the later day if the Roman church which is the chiefest member support therof should perish It were needelesse to repeate here those sentences of the ancient Doctors once before produced in confirmation of this argument I wil be cōtent with one text of S. Austin that doth both directly crosse M. Abbots supposition and manifestly prooue this my assertion These be his wordes If the Pedegree of Bishops succeding one another be to be considered August epistola 165. Si enim ordo episcoporum sibi inuicem succedentium considerandus est quanto rectius vere salubriterab ipso Petro numeramus cui totius Ecclesiae figuram gerenti Dominus ait super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam how much more rightly and assuredly do we recken frō S. Peter him self vnto whom bearing the figure of the whole church our Lord said vpon this Rock I will build my church To Peter succeeded Linus c. Behold how fully S. Austin had 1200. yeares before hand confuted M. Abbots proposition M. Abbot saith that the fathers might as well haue alleaged their communion with any other church as with the church of Rome Not so saith S. Austin but if the successiō of Bishops be to be regarded as it is very highly to be esteemed and the cōmunion in faith and Religion with thē then that of the Bishops and church of Rome is more right and better assured then any other Obserue also the same reason giuē by that most renowmed Doctor which I before deliuered because vpon S. Peter who was the roote and stock of the Roman Pedegree as vpon a Rock Christ built his church against which the gates of Hell shall not preuaile wherfore in another place he is bold to tell the donatistes that the see or church of Rome is that rock against which the proud gates of hell shall not preuaile Againe doth not our
man our lord doth abhorre God send you gentle sir a litle more Charitie It followeth in your text which will verie currantlie serue against your selfe R. AB IN vhich seruice of Antichrist M. ABBOT our countryman hath verie industriously done his part M. Bishop and hath labored if not to excell yet to equall almost anie of his fellovves in the subverting of the wayvvard and in animating of men to obstinacie against the truth of God vvho hauing to the kings most excellent maiestie disgorged against vs the venomed poison of his vvicked and corrupt heart and being by mee duly chastised for his disloyall and traiterous attempt to delude by false suggestions his liege and souareigne lord seing his impostures and fraudes most plainlie discouered and laid open hath added dronkennes to his thirst and sought to fill vp the measure of his former iniquity by vvilfull railing at those things vvhich hee knoweth to bee true And hauing no other vvay to reuenge the impeaching of his credit greatly touched as he conceiued by the ansvvering of his booke hath in a latter booke run vpon me furiously and loaden mee as much as in him lieth vvith odious imputations of abusing falsifying misconstruing and misapplying both scriptures and fathers like the vngratious theefe at the barr vvho conuicted by most cleare and apparant euidence yet still impudently crieth out that all is false c. W. B. HItherto are M. Abbots wordes with the onlie change of my name into his which euerie man that hath seen what bookes passed between vs can witnes how fitly they may be returned vpon himselfe for in his answere to my Epistle to his Majesty he doth bitterlie inveigh against mee and goeth about by verie vntrue suggestions to abuse his highnes which I partlie discovering in my booke called the reproofe he seeking to vphold his credit much impeached as hee thought ther by hath since surcharged me with more odious imputations True it is that neither he nor I doe come neere vnto manie other writers of this age on both sides though I keeping the tenor of his owne words which do attribute vnto mee much more then I deserue do signifie that he laboreth to equall almost any of his fellowes alwaies excepting the vnciuill rudenes of his stile which is much more cancred then becomes the Candor of a Divine but if that be the naturall and incureable malady of the fervent hot spirit in the new turmoiling Gospell all mild and sweet peacible natures will assuredly in short time learne to abhorre it wheras M. Abbot chargeth mee to haue endeuored to delude my soveraigne by false suggestions all vpright cōsciēces will iudge that hee rather hath soe done then I if it shall please them to take to their considerations but this one inducement M. Abbot in his first booke did burthen mee with the same crime to which I returned him in print this Answere I vvish very hartely that you could and vvould obteyne of his maiestie that vvee both in person might appeare before his highnesse there to iustifie vvhether of vs had sought to abuse his Maiestie by lies and by pretending antiquitie for those things vvhich by antiquity vvere condemned I to shew the assurance I had in the truth of my allegations and in the vprightnes of the Catholike cause having publikely made this earnest request vnto M. Abbot it being my hap afterward to fall into his brothers hands and by him to be laied vp in prison where M. Abbot might haue spoken with mee at his pleasure and leasure should not he then at the least if he had had any confidence in the goodnes of his cause haue confronted mee and conuinced mee of some of the pretended falshoodes wherof hee had accused mee He cannot saie that he knew not of it or had not sufficient time to thinke of the matter for I was holden there in expectation eleven monethes during which space hee was once at London that I heard of and had leisure to goe to à Readers feast but small deuotion as it seemeth to visit a poore prisoner and lesse affection to come to à conference about those allegations and reasons which though hee had cuningly patched togither and gilded over goodly yet his owne conscience told him that they would not abide the hammering of an equall conference they might serue to deceiue the simple but would not hold weight in the ballāce of à learned Disputatiō wherfore he had reason to thinke it better policie to auoyd that triall which might perhaps haue turnd to his further shame yea his Maiestie of his owne grations disposition being willing as I credibly heard to haue spoken with mee was by M. Abbots frinds possessed with sundrie slaunderous informations against mee to diuert his Maiestie therfro Seing therfore that I both offered requested and expected a meeting with M. Abbot about the verification of our writings and hee hauing not onlie the oportunitie of time and place but the aduantage also of other Circumstances would not appeare and show himselfe what reasonable men can doubt but that he at the least did feare and mistrust his owne cause and thervpon assure themselues who cannot be so priuy to M. Abbots dealings as hee is himself that M. Abbots allegations and arguments are to be vehemently suspected and feared and consequently that very vnwise are they who in matter of saluation and damnation doe rely vpon him Hitherto I haue vsed M. Abbots words aganist himselfe now I come to the rest which speake more distinctly for him R. AB VVhich plainelie appearing to be soe litle reason had I to trouble my self to giue any further answere to it Neuertheles bicause the further answer of the chiefest part of it hath fallen within the compasse of my intention of describing the true ancient Roman Catholike no difference there is but that wheras I might haue walked at my owne libertie I now tie my selfe to follow him I haue yeelded so much to him that wheras by comparison I formerly shewed that the now church of Rome in faith religiō is far estranged from the old so it may now more fully appeare that it is soe and that M. Bishop contending for the contrary hath done it only for his belly and for his credits sake hauing made the deceiuing of soules his occupation to liue by and being ashamed at these yeeres to confesse that he himselfe hithero hath been deceiued W. B. M. Abbot as he here saies would not haue answered my litle book howsoeuer it was to purpose had it not fallen within the compas of a former pretended treatise of his owne how much lesse cause haue I to withdraw my hand from more serious and substantiall worke to giue answer vnto his long tedious trifling bookes that mans head that should not ake before M. Abbot had soundly proued the now Roman church to be in any one pointe of faith estranged from the old were like to liue many a faire day without need of a Phisitian
for whether the church of Rome bee the Catholike church or no the faith which his Majestie embraceth cannot bee Catholike vnles it bee that which either hath been or now is spred ouer all the world therfore no man can deny but that it had been a more direct and speedie course to have proved their owne church to bee Catholike then to goe about to disprove the church of Rome to bee Catholike for let vs suppose that which M. Abbot would have though it bee most vntrue that the church of Rome were not the Catholike church Doth it thervpoÌ„ follow that the church of England is Catholike nothing lesse for there have been and are manie erring no Catholike congregations by the consent of all men different and dissenting from the church of Rome as for example were of old the Arrians the Donatists Macedonians and att this time bee the Trinitarians Anabaptists and such like supposing then the church of Rome not to bee Catholike and that the English church doth not agree with the said church may it not neverthelesse bee some other erronious congregation that is faâ—r enough of froÌ„ being Catholike there being in the world so manie other of that bad marke and stampe It must needes then follow that M. Abbot beginning with the church of Rome neither tooke a speedie and direct nor yet a sure course to prove his maiesties faith to bee Catholike M. Abbot in his owne excuse saith that to prove his maiesties faith to bee Catholike he must needes declare what the Catholike church was bicause of the Catholike church it is that the faith is called the Catholike faith This I admitt for good doctrine and do desire the Reader to beare it well in mind that the Catholike faith must needes bee sought for in the Catholike church and cannot be found out before wee haue the Catholike church to teach it vs. because as M. Abbot affirmeth heere of the Catholike church it is that the faith is called the Catholike faith well go on good Sir I grant that you did well to declare what was the Catholike faith and what was the Catholike church too But having declared what was the Catholike church and faith why did you not go in haÌ„d to proue your English faith that his maiestie maintaineth or your English church which hee vpholdeth to bee that same true Catholick church To saie that that stumbling blocke to witt that the church of Rome was the Catholike church was first to be removed out of the way will not serve the turne for that was not necessary when as the other if it had been true might haue been performed by it self without any mention made of the church of Rome And if your fingers itched to haue a fling at the church of Rome would it not haue been more seemly and decent first to haue confirmed your owne faith to bee Catholike which you tooke in hand then having layed that fouÌ„dation to haue declared that the faith of Rome was not Catholike wherfore I did neither idly nor preposterously as you write require so much att your hands but verie preposterously do you proceede and beyond all measure extravagantly that having spoken somewhat to declare what the Catholike church was and that the church of Rome was not that Catholike church do afterwards run through seaven or eight questions more and make an end of your booke too before you come to take one chapter to prove that your English church is the Catholike church or that your English faith is the Catholike faith Is not this to forgett your self in the highest degree that is possible to institute a treatise to prove his maiesties faith to bee Catholike and to professe in the beginning of it that to find out the Catholike faith wee must first find out the Catholike church which being soone found out and agreed vpon to bee that which is spredd over all the world after wardes in all the ensuing discourse not to haue one chapter to prove the English church or faith to bee spred all the world over was not this vtterly to leese himself and to leave his reader as it were in the middle of a maze Pervse gentle reader the contents of all the chapters of M. Abbots booke which bee fowreteene in number thou shalt not find one of them so much as pretend to prove directly the faith of England to have been dilated into all countries the first is that the church of Rome doth vainely pretend to bee the Catholike church the second consisteth of a comparison betweene the Papists and the Donatists the third is about the Papists abuse of the name Catholike the fourth that the church before Christ was a part of the Catholike church and that the old and new testament do not differ in substance of faith The fift that religion cannot satly bee grounded vpon the example of fathers and forefathers the sixth that the reasons of popery are not vrgent and forcible The seventh of the florishing and best state of the church of Rome and of the fulnes of doctrine contayned in Saint Pauls Epistle to the Romanes of Idolatry in worstipping of Saints The eighth of iustification before God The ninth of iustification before man The tenth that eternall life cannot bee purchased by meritt The eleaventh the first motion of concupiscence is sinne The twelfth that the spirit giues witnes to the faithfull that they bee the sonnes of God The 13. that good workes are not meritorious of life to come The 14. that the Epistles of Saint Paul are loosely alleaged by the papists lo here is the end of the booke and as a man may well saie finis ante principium a conclusion of the worke before he begin to handle the principall point in question to witt whether that faith which his Maiestie embraceth bee the Catholike faith that is whether at any time it hath been receiued in all Christian countries so that in one word this booke of M. Abbots may bee answered with a nihil dicit as our comÌ„on lawiers tearme it that is hee hath said iust nothing to that which hee vndertooke to performe therin for having taken in hand to prove that the faith of the English congregation is Catholike and consequently that it hath been vniversally planted in all nations now to let that stand a cooling and to argue that the church of Rome is not the Catholike church but rather Donasticall and that it abuseth the name Catholike that the church in old father Abrahams daies was a part of the Catholike church and such other impertinent questions was it not rather as one maie say to lead a wild Goose chase and to wander vp and downe very strangelie then to speake to the point of the question propounded And albeit it draw some what neerer the matter to go about to proue the Protestants doctrine to be more conformable vnto the old and new Testament then the doctrine of the Catholiks yet that is a severall distinct question
heavenly building 1. Cor. 3. though our saviour Christ Iesus bee the chief fundation and corner stone yet next to himself hee hath placed Saint Peter and hath vpon him as vpon a firme rock builded his church which is as much to say as that hee gave him firme and infallible authoritie vpon which all the faithfull should rely for finall resolution in all doubts of faith religion and manners which do necessarily appartayne to the edifying of Christs church this may serue for a cursory exposition of the first fountaine of holy scripture out of which I derived that our Saviour bestowed vpon S. Peter the supreme place of government in his church a fuller confirmation of it shall follow by and by 6 I might add for further proof of the same position out of Saint Iohns Gospell how our blessed Lord severing Saint Peter from the rest of the Apostles and intimating how S. Peter loved him more then anie of them gave to him as head pastor the charge of both his sheepe and lambes that is of all Christians aswell the cleargy as the laity to bee by him instructed ruled and governed as the flock of sheepe is fed and ruled by the shepheard which according to the ancient doctors testimonie doth verie plainly confirme Saint Peters supremacie as you shall heare presently out of their own wordes yet this though it bee most pregnant among the rest I then omitted because the question of the supremacy was not to bee handled there at the full I touched also a third text to prove that the Bishop of Rome as Saint Peters successor should never faile in confirming of his brethren in the true faith taken out of Saint Luke where our Lord saith Simon Simon behold Luca 22. sataÌ„ hath required to haue you for to sifte as wheate but I haue praied for thee that thy faith faile not and thou once converted confirme thy brethreÌ„ wher vpon it followeth that all others ought to repaire to him and his successors for resolution of all controversies in faith to bee confirmed by him and are bound therby to obey him as the person to whom Christ gaue power to confirme his brethren Of the first text of scripture shal bee treated more at large in this section for the others I will onlie note some places of the holy fathers where the reader maie see the very same explication of Christes words and deduction that I make here by their auctoritie approved bicause M. Abbot doth here verie hotly call for such testimonies and seemeth so earnestly sett vpon the sight of them that I must needes giue him out of hand at least the quotations of them in the margent and then small doubt but hee will presently bee satisfied if there bee such honestie in him as hee makes shew of well if it bee no more then for the good readers content I will giue him more then hee demauÌ„deth that is not only the quotations in the margent but their words also in the text a Origenes in cap. 6. ad Rom. Petro cum summa rerum de pascendis ovibus traderetur super ipsum velut super terram fundaretur ecclesia nullius confessio virtutis alterius ab eo nisi charitas cuigitur To begin Origen saith when the church was founded vpon S. Peter and supreme power of feeding Christs sheepe was comÌ„itted to him the profession of no other vertue then of charitie was demaunded of him b Cipri de vnitate eccles Petro post resurrectionem dominus dicit pasce oves meas super illum vnum aedificat ecclesiam suam illi pascendas mandat oves suas S. Ciprian Christ after his resurrection said to Peter feede my sheepe and vpon him alone doth build his church In both these sentences are linked two texts of the Euangelists that concerne Saint Peters supremacy c Ambros 10. in Lucam cap. 24. Contristatur quia tertio interrogatur Amas me iâ— enim interrogatur de quo dubitatur sed dominus non dubitabat qui interrogabat non vt disceret sed vt doceret quem elevandus in caelum amoris sui nobis velut vicarium relinquebat paulo post ideo quia solus profitetur ex omnibus omnibus antefertur ibidem tertio dominus non iam diligis meâ— sed amas me interrogauit iam non agnos vt primo quodam lacte pascendos nec oviculas vt secundo sed oues pascere iubetur perfectiores vt perfectior gubernaret Saint Ambrose Our lord not to learne himself but to teach vs did aske him whom hee being to ascend into heaven would leave vs as it were the vicar of his loue for so thou hast Simon sonne of Iohn dost thou loue mee c. Peter testified his affection and therfore bicause hee alone made that profesâ—ion hee is preferred before the rest and a little after he is commaunded to feede the sheepe as well as the lambes that the perfecter sort might be governed by him that was more perfect behold sheepe and lambes to bee governed by Saint Peter d Chrisost homil 1. de penitentia Poenitentia post tantum malum iterum cum ad priorem honorem reuehit ecclesiae primatum gubernationém que ipsi per vniuersum orbem tradidic Chrisost homil 80. in Ioannem Cum magna Christus Petro coÌ„municasset ei orbis terrarum curam demandasset c. S. Chrisostome the primacie of the church and the government throughout the whole world is by Christ coÌ„mitted to S. Peter see him also in his last homily vpoÌ„ S. Iohns Gospell and in his second booke of priesthood whom e Theophil cap. 21. Ioannis Totius orbis onium praefecturam Petro committit non autem alij sed huic tradit Theophi lact vpon the same place doth follow saying Christ granteth to S. Peter and to none els the government of the church through the whole world f Leo sermo 3. de assump De toto mundo vnus Petrus eligitur qui vniuersarum gentium vocationi omnibus Apostolis â—unctisque Ecclesiae patribuâ— praeponatur vt quamuis in populo dei mulâ—â— sacerdotes sint multiquâ— pastores omnes tamen proprie regat Petrus quos principaliter regit Christus S. Leo amonge all the meÌ„ of the woâ—ld onely Peter is chosen who is placed over the Apostles and fathers of the church and over the vocation of the Gentils And albeit among the peoplâ— of God there be manie priests and manie Pastors yet Peter doth rule all them properly over whom our Saviour Christ doth rule principally observe the rule over all that appertaine to Christ to be given by Christ to S. Peter g Eucherius Lug in vigilia S. Petri. Dicit ei pasce oves meas prius agnos deinde oues coÌ„misit ei quia non solum pastorem sed pastorum pastorem eum constituit pascit igitur Petrus agnos pascit oues pascit filios pascit matres regit
subditos praelatos omniuÌ„ igitur pastor est quia praeter agnos oues in ecclesia nihil est Eucherius Archbishop of LyoÌ„s Christ sayd vnto peter feed my sheep first he committed to him his lambes then his sheep because he did not onely constitute him a pastor but the pastor of pastors therefore Peter doth feed the lambes and the sheep he feedeth the yonglinges and their dammes he doth gouerne the subiectes and the Prelates wherefore he is pastor of all because besides lambes and sheep there is nothing in the church h Gregorius lib. 4. Epist 32. Cunctis ergo Euangelium scientibus liquet quod voce dominica sancto omnium Apostolorum principi Petro Apostolo totius Ecclesiae cura coÌ„missa est ipsi quippe dicitur Petro amas me pasce oues meas ipsi dicitur ecce Satanas expetiuit cribarevos sicut triticum ego pro te rogavi Petre vt non deficiat fides tua c. Gregory the great it is manifest to all that know the Gospell that the charge of the whole church was by our lords voice coÌ„mitted to holy S. Peter prince of all the Apostles for to him it was said Peter dost thou loue mee feede my sheepe to him it was said behold Satan hath desired to sift you as wheate And I haue praied for thee Peter that thy faith shall not faile and thou once converted confirme thy brethren In which passage you see that other place of S. Luke emploied to establish the supremacie which H Leo ser 3. ass Commune erat omnibus Apostolis periculum de teÌ„tatione formidinis diuinae protectionis auxilio pariter indigebant c. tamen specialis a domino Petri cura suscipitur pro fide Patri proprie supplicatur tanquam aliorum status certior sit futurus si mens principis victa non fuerit S. Leo also doth in the forealleaged place in these words Our lord tooke speciall care of Peter and for the faith of Peter did hee praie peculiarly for the state of others should become more certaine if the mind of the Prince were not ouercome And after a litle Christ made Peter prince of the whole church S. Chrisostome vnderstood the supremacy to bee given to S. Peter in the same words when hee thus reasoneth I Chrisostom in 3. act Apostolorum Quam est feruidus quam agnoscit creditum a Christo gregom quam in choro princeps est obique primus onnium incipit loqui Behold the fervour of S. Peter how well did hee know the charge of the flocke to bee committed to him by Christ how well doth hee shew himself the prince of that company and doth alwaies speake first marke the reason for to him had Christ said And thou once conuerted confirme thy brethren In like manner k Ambros in Psalm 43. Denique Petrus ecclesia praeponituâ— postquam tentatus a diabolo est adeoque ante significat dominus quid est illud quod postea cum pastorem elegit dominici gregis nam huic dixit tu autem conuersus coÌ„firma fratres tuos c. S. Ambrose Peter is made President of the church Christ did signifie before what hee meant by that that hee chose him pastor of our Lords stocke for to him hee said thou being conuerted confirme thy brethren So doth l Theophil in c. 22. Luâ—ae Tu conuersus planus huius loci intellectus est quia te habeo vt principem discipulorum postquam me abnegato fleueris ad panitâ—ntiam veneris confirma cetâ—râ—â— hoc enim tedecet qui post 〈…〉 petra es et firmamentum Theophilact the plaine sense of this place is bicause I esteeme of thee as of the prince of my disciples after that thou having denied mee shalt wepe and come to repentance do thou confirme the rest for that becometh thee who after mee art the rock and foundation of the church These texts of holie Scriptures and testimonies of ancient fathers to omitt manie others I deliuer by the way in confirmation of S. Peters primacy to giue M. Abbot a proof that I could haue said more for that cause then I said in my former booke where I did passe over that point speedely as scarse belonging to the question then in hand 7 Now I returne to that text recorded in S. Mathew Thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my church vpon which wee must staÌ„d the longer bicause M. Abbot doth saie what hee could devise against the true sense of it by it therfore I will prove according to my former deduction first that the primacy was giueÌ„ to S. Peter and afterward shew that it is deriued to the popes of Rome his successors M. Abbot confesseth that the fathers sometimes take Peter to bee that rocke vpon which Christ built his church but avoucheth that none ever said that the church of Rome was the rocke yea addes very groslie that I belie the fathers and father that on them which they never meant when I saie that they out of that text gathered the Pope of Romes supremacie how audaciously and vntruly this is spoken shall appeare assoone as I haue dispatched the former part about S. Peter himself Let it therfore bee first duly considered what a worthie company of the auncient renowmed fathers both Greek and Latin do interprete S. Peter to bee that rocke vpon which our blessed saviour built his church and therwith gaue him power authority to gouern the same that no man maie doubt that to be the true literall sence first intended though secundarily it may admitt other constructions I will begin with that famous Clarke Origen who is one of the auncienst amongst the Greekes that hath written comentaries vpon the Testament he stileth 1 Origin homil 5. in Exodum Vide magno illi ecclesiae fundamento Petrae solidissimae super quam Christus fundauit ecclesiam quid dicatur a domino modicae inquit fides quaro dubitasti S. Peter the great foundation of the church and most sound rocke vpon which Christ built his church Hipolitus 2 Hipolit de constructione mundi Princeps Petrus fidei petra quem beatum iadicauit Christus deus nostâ—r ille doctor ecclesiae ille primus discipulorum qui regus claues habuit c. Peter the prince the rocke of faith the Doctour of the church the chief of the Apostles whom our lord pronouÌ„ced to bee blessed Eusebius 3 Eusebius lib. 6. historiae 19. resert ex Origine Petrus super quem Christi ecclesia contra quam â—nferorum pâ—rtae non praeualebunt aedificata est c. reciteth these words Peter vpon whom was built the church of Christ against which hel gates shall not prevaile 4 Epiphan in Ancorato non longe a principio Ipse dominus constituit Petrum primum Apostolorum petram firmam super quam ecclesia dei aedificata est portae inferorum non praepraeualebunt
the whole face of their church being as he raileth and writeth berayed with the filth of Idolatry if the church of Rome be such a monster as hee would make her I desire him to explicate in particular which be those fundamentall points that do constitute church a the true member of the Catholike church In the meane season it is pleasant to heare how roundly hee reckeneth vp without either staggering or blushing the Iolly agreement which hee takes to bee betweene their church and ours wee do not saith hee take vpon vs to bee any other church then that which they call the old but the same church reformed wee reteyne still the same scriptures which they acknowledge true saving that you haue cut of at one clap fiue books of the old testament wee retayne the same articles of faith which they professe you should for modesties sake haue added except some twentie or thirtie wee retayne the same sacraments of Baptisme and the supper of the Lord. Iust if bread and wine bee the same with the blessed bodie and bloud of Christ Besids how do wee agree about the other five Sacraments which wee retayne and you haue cast away They finally retaine the same forme of service except that they haue cut of the best parts of it and as it were pulled out the hart and bowells of the sacrifice and consecration leaving to themselues and their miserable followers onely the paâ—ings and offals Behold the goodlie conformitie of the old and new English church of late devised and published by M. R. Abbot minister of the word and teacher of the reformed church of England Hee is so farr of as hee saies from Donatisme as that he doth teach the church never to haue perished no not in the City of Rome it self why then hath hee taken so much paines to proue the church of Rome to be turned Donatisticall vnles hee will now also in a very calme and pitifull humour allow even the Donatists church it self to haue been a part of the true Catholike church And so consequently like a good Atheisticall libertine allow all heretikes that professed Christs name to haue been true members of his church Hauing thus confuted that which M. Abbot had to obiect against their agreement in the maine point of the Donatists heresie I now come to the second resemblance that is betweene the Anabaptists an ofspring of the protestants and the Donatists who now do teach rebaptisation as the Donatists did then which M. Abbot granteth but saith my foolerie therin needeth no answere because the Anabaptists bee exploded out of all protestant churches And to that comparison which I made betweene the diuision of the protestants into Lutherans Sacramentaries and Anabaptists with the partition of the Donatists into Donatists Maximianists and Rogatists hee saith that I should rather haue devided Papists into Anabaptists secularists and Iesuists what voluntary light babling is this who ever before M. Abbot tooke the Anabaptists to bee papists when as they as stifly deny the popes authoritie the sacrifice of the Masse the reall presence the merites of good workes and most other articles of our religion as any other protestants And albeit they differ from the Sacramentaries in some few matters as the Sacramentaries do also from the Lutherans yet they bee descended from them and do agree with them in most points of religion wherfore they may bee aswell sorted and ranked with them as the Rogatists and Maximianists were with the Donatists neither will it helpe M. Abbot to say that they cast the Anabaptists out of their congregation For the Donatists did no lesse excommunicate and chace out of their churches the Maximianists and Rogatists then the Sacramentaries do the Anabaptists It was then rather a foolery of M. Abbots vpon so foolish a reason to deny the Anabaptists to belong vnto the common body of the protestants and more impudent folly is it to associate them to vs from whom they dissent further then the other protestaÌ„ts do And because wee bee now entred into degrees of comparison let it bee taken for a superlatiue folly in M. Abbot to divide all men of our religion into Anabaptists Secularists and Iesuists for to returne the Anabaptists to themselues as their owne sweet brood with whom they consent against vs in most controversies of religion Do the other names of Secularists and Iesuists comprehend all Romane Catholikes bee there no lay Catholiks at all nor any other religious persons in our church besids secularists and Iesuists what was become of M. Abbots senses when hee wrote this The Seminarists and Iesuists being compared vnto all other Catholiks both religious and lay do scarse amount as I gesse vnto the thousand part of that body So that here M. Abbot infabling fumbling and confounding rather then in diuiding surmounts the highest degree of comparison R. ABBOT THE third resemblance that M. Bishop mentioneth is this They held not the faith of the blessed Trinitie entire For some of them like the Arrians taught the sonne of God to bee lesser then the father Though as S. Austin noteth this was not marked of their followers This hee applieth to vs in this sort sundrie of their principall teachers as Melancthon Caluin and others do corrupt the sound doctrine of the holy Trinitie as I haue shewed in the preface of my second part of the reformatioÌ„ of a deformed Catholike though the common sort of their followers do not greatly obserue it In which third point hee verie wilfully belieth S. Augustin the Donatists and vs. For S. Austin doth not saie that of the Donatists but only of a second Donatus who was a follower of the first who had an vnsound opinion of the Trinity which the Donatists were so farre of from approuing that there was scarse one among them that knew that hee thought so to him only is that to bee referred which S. Austin saith If any of them haue said that the sonne is lesser theÌ„ the father yet they haue not denied him to bee of the same substance S. Austin never vpbraided the Donatists with this error Aug. Epistola 50 though Theodoret do But hee spake by hearsay How M. Bishop dealeth with Melancthon Caluin and others I haue fully declared in my answere to that preface W. B. HERE is a whot charge and a peremptory condemnation before due examinatioÌ„ as you shall heare that I haue at one clap belied S. Austin the Donatists and their good Maisters Melancthon Caluin and others But if M. Abbot can make good no one of those imputations then it must bee granted that hee hath at once let slip a leash of slanderous lies Let vs descend to the particulars I write that S. Austin reporteth some of the Donatists to haue had a bad opinion of the blessed Trinity M. Abbot taketh mee vp short auouching that hee affirmeth that of a second Donatus onely well was not that second Donatus a great famous Donatist and had hee not many followers but not
they saie that all their additions ioyned and sowdered to the rest bee inspired by the holie Ghost Or can that trulie bee called a psalme of Dauid that hath one sentence in it not dictated by the holy Ghost But in their meeters manie such sentences bee added which are not assured to bee of the holie Ghost wherfore they may well marre but cannot make vp any psalmes of Dauid Besids they haue some very hereticall sentences interlarded among the rest As for example this in the inuocation of the holy Ghost before the Sermon Keepe vs from all papistry Finally there bee some whole psalmes made by by Robin woodcocke I trow or some of his fellowes no lesse Dunsticall then hereticall Take for a tast therof the first staffe of the last song in their psalter composed by R. W. which I thought good to record here that the reader may see how elegant and pleasant they bee both for meeter and matter Preserve vs Lord by thy deere word From Turke and Pope defend vs Lord Which both would thrust out of his throne Our Lord Iesus Christ thy deare sonne These must needes bee verie noble verses that haue thrice Lord in them And as for word and Lord Throne and sonne though the words do end in the like syllables yet they agree not in sound If M. Abbot would haue the simple reader beleeve that S. Austin and S. Leo when they speake in the praise of singing of Psalmes did meane Davids psalmes in meeter let him produce but one good Author to testify that they were so turned within 900. yeares of those Doctors deathes and then hardely beleeue him If hee cannot then every man may see what credit is to bee given to his allegations That S. Austins words which I alleaged are to bee vnderstood of Psalmes which the Donatists sung in their churches rather then of songs in their drunken bankets may bee gathered out of the comparison that hee makes betweene them and the psalmes that were sung in the Catholike church And S. Austin might well by a Metaphore vsuall in the holy scripture call the Donatists new mad devises against the ancient custome of grave singing in the quire their drunkennes As for the worshipfull testimony of Cornelius Agrippa of our mingling holie things with prophane it being recorded in a booke of condemned memorie I hold it not worth the answering Sure I am that M. Abbot by producing of such Authors cracketh his owne credit for hee promised in his Epistle to the reader that hee would only vse the testimonie either of some learned Bishops of Rome or of some other famously approued author and commended in that church And this booke of Agrippa de vanitate scientiarum is by name condemned by the same church in the Cataloge of forbidden books wherfore M. Abbot is no man of his word Finally like to a tatling tennis plaier that comes well beaten out of the tennis court yet to comfort himself and to saue his poore credit with his friends brags that those mates with whom he plaid were no matches for him yea that no man that daie was able to stand in his hands Even so M. Abbot having behaued himself as simply as a man of either wit or learning could doe either for defending of his owne or for offendīg his aduerse party yet cōcludeth as though hee had gotten the field and cleane foiled his adversary saying that I did vnfortunatly enter into retorting of that comparison nothing serving my turne but that hee like a nimble tēnis player had returned my owne bals vpon mee that with very great advantage well bragge is a Iolly dog and leesers must sometimes bee suffred to haue their words Let the iudicious and indifferent reader but weigh well first what kind of resemblance M. Abbot endevored to make betweene the Donatists and the Papists to wit to chalenge to themselues to bee the Catholike church To bee or rather to desire to bee dilated all the world over that out of their church there was no salvation To spred ill rumors of their adversaries To discourage men from ioyning with them with a Ragmans roll of such rotten riff raffe common to all sects and to none more vsuall then to the protestantes themselues So triviall I say that any man of ordinarie discretiō would haue been ashamed to haue put them downe in print to the view of the world Afterward on the other side let him but call to mind what resemblances I haue proposed betweene the Protestants and the Donatists and weigh how substantiall they bee in themselues and how properly they fitt the protestants The first was that the spirit and soule of Donatisme cōsisted in affirming the church of Christ not to appeare in any other part of the world visibly but to haue cleā perished saving in some few places where men of their religion liued Of the same mind were the chief protestants for many yeares Secondly the Donatists were the first among Christians that appealed from the iudgment of Bishops vnto temporall Princes though they afterwards repented themselues thereof when they saw that the said princes would not helpe them Is not this one of the chiefe heads of the protestants Gospell yea doth not the whole frame of their new religion hang vpon the supreme ecclesiasticall authority of kings Thirdly they beate downe Altars abused the blessed Sacramēt of Christs body defiled holy oiles confiscated sacred chalices and sold them togither with the vestments and other holie ornaments of the church All which are so proper to the Protestants that they blush not daily to practise it and make open profession of the same 4. The protestāts like vnto the Donatists by putting innocēt priests to death make martirs whom we may worship Finally they pulled of the veiles of religious women which were signes of their professed virginity exposing them to the hazard of the wild world In which vngodlie and irreligious practise the protestāts haue gone farre beyond the Donatists But that they maie not take too great pride therin let them heare the vpright censure of the holy prelate Optatus passed 1200. yeares agone against them in the name of their deere brethren the Donatists In this kind you haue done as great damage to god Optat. l. 6. co Parm. In hoc genere tanta damna fecistis Deo quanta lucra diabolo procurastu Conflastis impie calices crudeliter fregistis inconsulte rasistis altaria Nudastis denuo capita iam velata de quibus professionis detraxistis indicia qua contra raptores aut petitores videntur inuenta Spiritale hoc nubendi genus est in nuptias Sponsi iam venerant voluntate professione sua vt secularibus nuptiijs se renuntiasse monstrarent spiritali sponso soluerant crinem iam caelestes celebrauerant nuptias as you haue procured gaine to the devill you haue impiously melted Chalices you haue barbarously broken downe Altars c. and a litle before you haue vncouered the