fourteenth day of the Moon of March according to the Prescript of the Mosaical Law which Custom hath been accounted naught Jewish and Heretical for the space of 1400 years to wit ever since the Decree of St. Victor Pope of Rome against the same since which time all Authors that have written of Heresies have held for Heretics those that defended this Custom as may appear first by Tertullian that liv'd in that very time of Pope Victor or presently after as also by the first Council of Nice which was held some hundred years after Victor again and Victor's Decree therein confirmed as after again in the Council of Antioch gather'd together almost 50 years after that of Nice and somewhat after that again by the Council of Laodicea and then by Philastrius and Epiphanius before cited and finally by St. Augustin Theodoretus Nicephorus Damascenus and others that ensued And the Defenders of this Heresie howsoever John Bale and his Fellows will sanctifie them now again for pious men for that they hold against the Roman Church were so odious to the Catholic Fathers even of the Greek and Eastern Church especially after the Determination of the Council of Nice which Determination tho' it be not extant now in the said Councils Decrees yet is it testified sufficiently both by Theodoretus and the Letters of Constantine himself recorded by Eusebius that Socrates in his Story writeth of St. John Chrysostom Archbishop of Constantinople these words Eis qui in Asia Festum Paschatis quartodecimo die mensis primi celebrabrant Ecclesias non secùs quam Novatianis ademit St. Chrysostom did take away Churches throughout his Jurisdiction from those that in Asia did celebrate the Feast of Easter upon the fourteenth of March no less than from the Novatian Heretics themselves And no less doth the same Author report of Leontius Bishop of Ancyra in Asia and other Eastern Bishops 25. And the reason hereof was not only for that by this different Custom of celebrating Easter there grew great Schisms amongst Christians but for that indeed the true Formality of this Heresie consisting in that they would make it of necessity to keep the Old Law in this behalf was begun first by an Heretic called Blastus as appeareth by Tertullian who to use his own words saith thus Latenter Judaismum introducere voluit dicens Pascha non aliter custodiendum esse nisi secundum Legem Moysis quartodecimo mensis He meant covertly to bring in Judaism affirming that Easter was not to be kept but according to the Law of Moyses upon the fourteenth day of the first Month. For refutation of which Heresie Tertullian saith Quis autem nesciat quoniam Evangelica gratia evacuatur si ad Legem Christus redigitur Who doth not know but that the grace of Christ's Gospel is made void if Christ be reduced again to the Observation of the Mosaical Law 26. This then was the very essential point of this Heresie and of them that defended the same to wit That they would bind Christians to the observation of this point according to the Mosaical Law. Against which point of Obligation St. Paul is so earnest in many places of his Epistles as he resisted St. Peter openly for that by his Conversation only he did seem to force or bind men to Judaical Observations Gentes cogis Judaizare you do force Gentiles to follow the Jews And for this cause he wrote so earnestly to the Galatians Ecce ego Paulus dico vobis si circumcidamini Christus nihil vobis proderit Behold I Paul do testifie unto you That if you do circumcise your selves or use this Mosaical Ceremony Christ shall profit you nothing 27. And again he telleth them in the same place That whosoever useth but this one Ceremony of Circumcision bindeth himself thereby to the observation of all the Old Law and consequently doth deprive himself of the whole Grace of Christ which yet is to be understood as ancient Fathers do expound after the Gospel of Christ was fully divulged and in them that did use any of these Ceremonies as of necessity for that otherwise we read of the Apostles themselves gathered together in Council that they gave leave to Christians for a time at the beginning abstinere à sanguine suffocato to abstain from Blood and that which is strangled or rather did ordain the same which yet afterwards was taken away again by Authority of the Church so as it is evident that the toleration was for a time only and as a thing indifferent without obligation And for like respect we read of St. Paul himself that albeit afterward he did forbid to the Galatians the use of Circumcision with such severity as you have heard yet at the beginning he circumcised Timothy for respect of the Jews as St. Luke testifieth for that the Gospel was not yet so far preached as it made the Observations of the Mosaical Law to be wholly unlawful especially if they were used as things indifferent and not of necessity as it is probable that both St. John Evangelist Polycarp and others of the east-East-Church did when for a time they used the Festival Day of celebrating Easter as an indifferent thing obliging no man to follow the one or the other Use to wit either this of the fourteenth day commanded by the Old Law or the other of the Sunday brought in by Tradition from St. Peter and St. Paul in the Roman Church as among others St. Protherius Patriarch of Alexandria by the Testimony of St. Bede doth write to Pope Leo And long before them both St. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch which Church was founded by St. Peter doth testifie in divers Epistles that Easter-day was to be celebrated upon a Sunday Yea St. John himself making mention of dies Dominicus the Lord's day in the beginning of his Apocalypse as of a solemn Day above the rest which no man will deny to be Sunday there is no other reason why this day should be called our Lord's Day with so special Title of Festivity but only for that it was dedicated in the Apostles time to the Resurrection of Christ And if in every Week it be kept Festival for that respect and that the whole Sabboth be turned into it then much more just is it that the great Sabboth of Christ's Resurrection should be once a year celebrated upon this day Yet was the matter as you have heard left for arbitrary and indifferent for divers years in Asia without constraint on either side 28. But when in process of time the Bishops of Rome especially Pope Pius I. and Victor had perceiv'd that by this Toleration and Difference of Observation not only Schisms and Dissention grew but Heresie also and Judaism was meant to be brought in then the said Pius I. in the year of Christ 148. as Eusebius testifieth made a Decree against the Asian Jewish Observation and after him again in the
for an Error in Origen Invocandos Angelos Origenes putavit homil 1. in Ezech. Origen thought Angels to be invoked And then again Hanc formulam invocandi Angelos proponit Veni Angele suscipe conversum ab Errore pristino c. And he setteth down this form of praying to Angels Come Angel receive him that is converted from his former Errors c. 20. But I would have the Magdeburgians or any of their Partners shew me when or where this Sentence of Origen was ever noted or condemned by Antiquity for Error or Heresie as some other Doctrins of his were Certain it is they cannot which is a singular Argument against them for that those Watchmen of the Church that noted and condemned those other Errors of his would have noted also this if it had been taken for an Error in those days And further I say to the Magdeburgians Let them tell us whether other holy Fathers yea the chiefest of God's Church after Origen did not hold the very same Doctrin Sure I am that the Magdeburgians themselves in the very next Century after do condemn by Name St. Ephrem and St. Hilary for this Doctrin of Invocation of Angels in the same sense that Origen did hold it And then again in the same third Century they do reprehend by Name for Invocation of other Saints which is the same Controversie the gravest Doctors of the Church to wit St. Athanasius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Ambrose St. Epiphanius Ephrem and Prudentius citing their plain words and condemning their Doctrin in this behalf So as if this were an Heresie all these Fathers were Heretics which were a blasphemous cogitation to think and much more to speak or utter And thus much of the first Objection about honoring Angels and other Saints wherein Protestants do only calumniate our doings as you see 21. As for the Collyridians he that will read St. Epiphanius who writeth of that mad fond fantastical Error of certain Women in Thracia for so he termeth them that would needs make our Blessed Lady a Goddess and offer Sacrifice unto her he shall find this Father to handle two things at large First That notwithstanding our Blessed Lady for the Privilege of bearing the Savior of the World be highly to be honored yet not ultra decorum as his words be that is not more than is decent or beyond the limits of a Creature seeing she is not God tho' the Mother of God And consequently these Thracian Women did foolishly and wickedly in devising this public Sacrifice unto her 22. Secondly That albeit this their Sacrifice had been offered by them to God himself yet was it unlawfully done by Women for that neither in the Old or New Testament saith he was it appointed that Women should do the Function of Sacrifice but Men only and those Priests And this Argument St. Epiphanius prosecuteth very largely proving that in the New Testament and Christian Church the Apostles only and other Priests succeeding by Imposition of hands had Authority to sacrifice but no Woman no not the Mother of Christ her self who should have had that Privilege above all other Women if any of her Sex might have been admitted And after our Blessed Lady he addeth these that followeth Fuerunt saith he quatuor filiae Philippo Evangelistae prophetantes sed non sacrificantes c Philip the Evangelist had four Daughters that prophesied but not that sacrificed And again Et ministrarum quidem Diaconissarum appellatarum Ordo est in Ecclesia sed non ad sacrificandum c. Diaconissis indiguit Ecclesiasticus Ordo nusquam autem eas Presbyter as aut Sacrificulas constituit c. Vnde igitur hic rursus Mulierum fastus insania muliebris There is saith he in the Christian Church an Order of them that are called Diaconesses but not to sacrifice The Ecclesiastical Order had need of these Diaconesses at the beginning but yet never ordained them as Priests or Sacrificers And whence then is now come again this pride of Women or womanish madness as to take upon them to sacrifice in the Church 23. By all which Discourse you may easily see what was the true Heresie condemned in these Collyridians to wit Colere Sanctos ultra modum decorum as the words of holy Epiphanius are that is to worship Saints beyond measure and decency and above the nature and condition of Creatures which is forbidden by God's Church but not to honor Them as Servants of His and Him in Them. You will see also what Opinion and Use of Christian Sacrifice there was in Epiphanius's days and how it was deny'd to Women and practis'd by Priests only which yet the Sectaries of this Age cannot abide to hear of And here now will we make an end of these first 300 years after Christ wherein as you see John Fox hath put down no Succession of his Church at all either in Men or Doctrin For as for men to wit Bishops Pastors and Teachers succeeding one to another from the Apostles downward they were all of the Roman visible Church and so were all other that bear the name of Christians except the Heretics before named and of the said Roman and Catholic Church the chief Leaders were from St. Peter unto Silvester Thirty-three Popes as before hath been mentioned all Martyrs and Witnesses of the same Faith. And in other principal Patriarchal Seats wherein the Apostles had held the first Chairs as Antioch Hierusalem Alexandria and the like there had succeeded other holy Bishops as also in infinit other places throughout the World so as in the Emperor Constantine's time who liv'd in the end of these first 300 years and was the first Christian Emperor that publickly professed Christian Religion the said Christian Church was so glorious that in the first General Council of Nice there were 318 principal Bishops joyned together the most of them of Asia only Whereby we see how Illustrious and Eminent the said Catholic Church and Religion was at that time 24. By which we do most evidently infer That either John Fox his obscure and trodden-down Church scarce visible as he saith to the World was not at all in those days or else it lurk'd only in some of the forenamed Heretics For if he say that the great perspicuous Roman Church was his at that time then how doth he define his Church to be obscure and scarce visible to the World And moreover we have shewed before that the Bishops Doctors Teachers Martyrs and chief Members or Guiders of this great illustrious Church were opposite to Him and his Church both in Faith and Doctrin and this by the confession of his own Doctors and Writers the Magdeburgians and others that reprehend and condemn the Fathers of the second and third Ages for holding divers principal Points of Doctrin now also in controversie against Them and for Us. And we have shewed also that this great Universal and
next Age following Pope Victor seeing the same inconveniences greatly to increase wrote a Letter to Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus to gather a Synod against it about the year of Christ 249 as Eusebius testifieth And when he perceived that both He and divers Asian Bishops did stand more stifly in defence thereof than he expected yea that they began not only to shew obstinacy therein against the former Decree of Pope Pius and the See of Rome but to draw near also to the very formality of Heresie before mentioned to wit that it was necessary to observe the Fourteenth Day nay further that it was ex Evangelii praescripto secundum Regulam Normam Fidei by the Prescription of the Gospel and according to the Rule and Norm of Faith as the said Polycrates in his Epistle to Pope Victor writeth When Victor I say saw this he resolved after Counsel taken by Conference with divers Synods both of the West and East Churches to Excommunicate those Asian Bishops that resisted if they would not agree Which Determination albeit Irenaeus and some others at that time did mislike and dehort Pope Victor from it as a thing perillous and scandalous and subject to many troubles as Eusebius reporteth yet did never any of them say that he could not do it but rather when he had done it indeed they did accommodate themselves thereunto both in West and East ratifying and confirming the same by divers particular Synods as Nicephorus recounteth to wit in Jerusalem Caesarea Tyrus Ptolomais Corinth Lions of France where St. Irenaeus himself was Bishop and other places c. 29. And finally the Council of Nice confirmed the same as the Fathers thereof do testifie by their particular Letters to the Clergy of Alexandria whose words are these as Theodoretus relateth them Scitote controversiam de Paschate susceptam prudenter sedatam esse Ita ut omnes fratres qui Orientem incolunt jam Romanos nos omnes vos sint consentientibus animis in eodem celebrando deinceps sequuturi You must understand that the Controversie about celebrating Easter taken in hand by us is prudently pacified so as all our Brethren that inhabit the East-parts will follow for the time to come the Romans or the Roman Church Us and the Authority of the Council and all You of the Aegyptian Church with full consent of mind in celebrating the same Feast Note here That the Council doth put the Authority of the Church of Rome in the first place even before Themselves and then Themselves and the Authority of the Council in the second place and those of Alexandria in the third which is another reckoning than our Heretics are wont to make of the Roman Church 30. Constantine also the Emperour writing his Letters to all Bishops of the Christian World that had not been present at the Council of Nice nor could come yieldeth account unto them with great Christian Modesty and Zeal of the chief Matters handled in that Council Where coming to speak of the Decree of celebrating Easter he saith thus Cùm de sanctissimo Festo Paschatis disceptaretur communi omnium sententia videbatur rectum esse ut omnes ubique uno eodemque die illud celebrarent When the Question was proposed about celebrating the holy Feast of Easter it seemed good by the common consent of all that were present in this Council that all Christians should celebrate the same in one and the self-same day which day he sheweth to be Sunday and refuteth at large the Custom of celebrating the same with the Jews upon the fourteenth day of the Moon tho' it were a Feria concluding thus Quae cum ita se habent c. Which things being so do you willingly embrace this Decree of the Council as a great Gift of God and a Commandment sent from Heaven forasmuch as whatsoever is decreed by holy Council of Bishops that must be ascribed to God's holy Will. Wherefore do you declare and denounce unto all our dear Brethren living among you the Decrees of this Council and namely the Decree of celebrating this holy Feast c. 31. Thus wrote our good British Emperour Constantine with a far different Spirit from those Christian Inhabitants of Britanny who afterwards defended the contrary Custom without respect of holy Decree of the Nicene Council but far more opposite and contrary is the wicked Spirit of John Bale John Fox and other such latter Brutish rather than British Sectaries that even in our days after that the Roman Catholic Use hath been received for thirteen hundred years since the said Council they are content for hatred of the Name of Rome to bring it into Controversie again and to allow rather the Jewish Use and to praise them that defend it in our Countrey as you have heard rejecting and defacing others that stood for the Catholic Party tho' never otherwise so famous and illustrious for their Learning and Vertue as Beda Agilbert Wilfrid and others the chiefest Pillars of our Primitive English Church were But this is their shameless Spirit to dishonor wherein possibly they can their Forefathers 32. And thus much of this matter about the first Conversion or Preaching of Christian Faith in Britanny under the Apostles Now will we pass to the more public Conversion of our Land under King Lucius which as in my Ward-word I called the First in respect of our two public Conversions from Paganism so do I here name it the Second in regard of the former Preaching in the Apostles Time. About which Conversion tho' in effect our Modern Heretics dare not deny the same yet shall you hear no less wrangling of them about this than the former for the great grief they receive in that it should be said or thought to come from Rome CHAP. IV. Of the Second Conversion of Britanny under King Lucius by Pope Eleutherius and Teachers sent from him about the year of Christ 180 and of the notorious absurd Cavillations of Heretics about the same also ALL that hitherto hath been spoken is about the first Preaching of Christian Religion in Britanny by particular men within the first Age or hundred years after Christ which our Roman Enemies only upon Envy and Animosity without any one Testimony of Antiquity will needs take from Rome and the Roman Church and give it to the Grecians of Asia and to the East parts as you have heard Now do follow two other more famous and public Conversions of the said Island under the two renowned Popes of Rome and by their special Industry which are acknowledged and registred by the whole Christian World and do so much press the Spleen and move the Gall of our Rome-biters as they leave no corner of their Wits unsifted to discredit or reject the same 2. The first Conversion was as the Warder saith under Pope Eleutherius towards the end of the second Age after Christ when King Lucius of Britanny hearing of the
Cùm jam varia grassentur quasi factiones opinionum c. Whereas every where now-adays divers factions of Opinions grow up among them that profess the Gospel there are some among others who by certain Philosophical Reasons go about to evacuate or make void the Testament of our Lord so as they would remove the Presence of the true Body and Blood of Christ from the Communion and would by a certain strange perplexity of words deceive the people against the most clear the most evident the most true and the most potent words of our Savior himself Wherefore your Majesty must principally look to this point and provide that the Articles of our Faith be kept without such Pharisaical Leaven and that the Sacraments instituted by Christ be restored without all corruption and adulteration Thus far the Magdeburgians to her Majesty by which you may perceive why I call them Fox his Masters in lying but not his Mates in believing 7. To come therefore now to our purpose I might as before hath been said if it were not over long use two ways for this positive Proof That these Articles deny'd by Fox and his Scholar were heard of and acknowledged in Eleutherius's time The first by citing the places themselves out of the principal Doctors that then lived but this as I have said would be over-long Yet one place I cannot omit of Irenaeus in the very Age we speak of and written while Eleutherius yet lived The words are these Maximae antiquissimae Ecclesiae c. We shewing the Tradition of the greatest and most ancient Church of Rome known to all the World as founded by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul which Tradition and Faith she receiving from the Apostles hath preached and delivered unto us by Succession of her Bishops from time to time unto our days do confound thereby all those Heretics which by any ways either through delight in themselves or vain-glory or blindness of understanding do gather otherwise than they should For that unto this Church in respect of her more Mighty Principality it is necessary that all Churches must agree and have access that is to say all faithful people wheresoever they live In which Church the Tradition that hath descended from the Apostles hath ever been kept by those that live in any place of the World. 8. And again a little after having for proof of his Faith and confirmation of Apostolical Tradition recounted all the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to his days he saith Nunc duodecimo loco c. Now in the twelfth place from the Apostles hath Eleutherius that Bishopric and by this Succession of the foresaid Roman Bishops is the Tradition of the Apostles conserved in the Church and the Preaching of the Truth hath come down unto us and this is a most full Demonstration that one and the same lively Faith hath been conserved in the Church from the Apostles time and delivered unto us in Truth c. 9. Lo here Tradition of the Apostles delivered and conserved by the Succession of the Bishops of Rome Lo here the Church of Rome called so long ago the Greatest and most Ancient of all other Churches her Principality both named and confirmed Behold the Obligation of all other Churches of the World yea and of all faithful Christians to agree and have access to Her See here all vainglorious and self-will'd Heretics confounded by Irenaeus with the only Tradition and Succession of this Church of Rome and her Bishops even from St. Peter's time to Eleutherius that lived with Irenaeus What Catholic man could say more at this day And will any jangling Fox or Sir Francis avouch yet without shame that none of these points were ever known or heard of in Eleutherius's time 10. Well then this is one way to confound them if I would follow it But being over tedious I mean to take another and shew out of their own Historiographers the Magdeburgenses that all these Doctrins deny'd by Fox and his Follower here were known and in ure among the chiefest Writers in the primitive Church and first Ages after Christ And first of all to begin with this very matter first named by them Of the Primacy of the Pope and Church of Rome The Magdeburgians have an especial Paragraph thereof De primatu Ecclesiae Romanae under the foresaid Title of the incommodious Opinions Stubble Straw and Errors of the Doctors that lived within the first 200 years after Christ And in that Paragraph they not only do alledge for Stubble this last Authority of Irenaeus by me cited tho' they alledge it so miserably maimed as of six parts they leave out more than five but also another place of St. Ignatius that lived in the first Age with the Apostles themselves to the same purpose which they cite in like manner under the same Title of Straw and Stubble and incommodious Opinions And then passing to the third Century or second Age after that of Christ they cite Tertullian for the same incommodious Opinion about the Primacy of the Roman Church and Bishop saying of him Non sine errore sentire videtur Tertullianus claves soli Petro commissas Ecclesiam super ipsum structam c. Tertullian doth seem not without Error to think that the Keys of the Church were given only to St. Peter and that the Church was built but on him 11. They cite also four or five places out of St. Cyprian where he holdeth the same with Tertullian and so they are both confuted for Stubble-Doctors together Yet go they further with St. Cyprian citing divers other places out of him to the same effect for the Bishop and Church of Rome all which they take for Stubble as where he saith One God one Christ one Church one Chair builded upon the Ark by the Word of our Savior and three or four like places more which for brevity I omit and finally they say of him and three other Fathers of his time Cyprianus Maximus Vrbanus and Salonius do think that one Chief Bishop must be in the Catholic Church c. Lo four old Fathers that lived almost 1400 years agone and were the Lights of that Primitive Church rejected here by four drinking Germans gathered together in some warm Stow of Magdeburg tippling strongly as a man may presume and judging all the World for Stubble besides themselves for which cause the third person in this Quaternity is called perhaps Mattheus Judex But let us go forward 12. They are not content with this rejection of St. Cyprian but they fall upon him again in these words Cyprian affirmeth expresly without all foundation of holy Scripture that the Roman Church must be acknowledged by all Christians for the Mother and Root of the Catholic Church And further yet in another Treatise That this Church is the Chair of Peter from which all the Vnity of Priesthood proceedeth And finally Cyprian say they hath
Britanny And forasmuch as this Church of St Martins was found fit to say Mass and Baptize in according to the use of Rome and for that the Britan Christians were never found to have reprehended or misliked this manner of serving God used by St. Augustin and his Fellows it is an evident Argument that the same was and had been in use also among them from all Antiquity neither was it a novelty brought in by St. Augustin 3. Moreover about the same time of the Romans going out of Britanny or soon after to wit about the year of Christ 440 it appeareth by Bede that the two French Bishops St. German and St. Lupus the first time and St. German and St. Severus the second time came into Britanny to resist the Pelagian Heresie and to reestablish the Catholic Faith that was among them before And so they did as well by working many Miracles as by their Preachings which Bede recounteth at large throughout many Chapters But now that these three holy Bishops the first of Antisiodore in France the second of Troy in Campany the third of Trevers in Germany were all of the Roman Religion and held in all Points of Controversie against the Protestants of our Time both in Doctrin and Practise is evident not only by that the Roman Church doth hold them all three for Canoniz'd Saints and celebrateth their Memories the First upon the 31 of July the Second upon the 29 of the same Month the Third upon the 15 of October which would never be permitted if they had been different in any one Point of Faith but also the same is clear as well by their own Writings that are extant and by their Lives written by others as also by divers things recounted by St. Bede in his Story of their Doings in England as namely where he writeth of St. German how he cured the Tribunes Daughter of Blindness by his Prayer and by applying the Relics of certain Saints unto her Eyes in the sight of all the People Deinde saith he Germanus plenus Spiritu sancto c. Then St. German full of the Holy Ghost did invoke the Name of the Blessed Trinity and presently took from his side a certain Box of Saints Relics that he was wont to carry about his neck and with his hands did put them upon the maids eyes which out of hand received perfect sight therewith Whereat the Parents of the maid rejoyced exceedingly and all the People did tremble at the sight of the miracle c. 4. Thus writeth St. Bede of that Act. And further that the said Bishop went to the Sepulcher of St. Alban which even at that time appeareth to have been kept with great Devotion prayed to the Saint largely and there left in his Sepulcher part of the Relics of all the Apostles and of divers other Saints which he had brought with him out of France and carried away with him in exchange thereof much of the earth that was died with the Blood of St. Alban Which he would not have done if he had been a Protestant And then yet further talking of another famous Miracle and Victory achieved by the said St. German against Heretics with sounding out the word Alleluia St. Bede saith Aderant Quadragesimae venerabiles dies quos religisiores reddebat praesentia sacerdotum c. The venerable days of Lent were come which the presence of these Priests of God made more religious c. 5. Behold here now almost 200 years before St. Augustin came into England the use of Relics of Saints of praying to Martyrs and honoring their Sepulchers the use of Alleluia the Religious Observation of Lent and such other Points recorded to be in practise among the Christian Britans Is this Protestant-like think you or can these men be presumed to have been of our new Religion But let us proceed to talk of some Britan Teachers and Pastors themselves 6. Geffrey of Monmouth in his British Story much esteemed and alledged by our Adversaries writeth that at a certain Feast of Pentecost at Chester about the year of Christ 522. as Bale holdeth King Arthur being present there was a great meeting of Princes Lords and Bishops for his Coronation and that of the three Archbishops of Britanny at that time which were London York and Chester Dubritius Archbishop of Chester did the Office of the Church that day of whom he saith Hic Britannia Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus tantâ religione clarebat ut quemcunque languore gravatum orationibus sanaret This Man being Primate of Britanny and Legate of the See Apostolic was so famous for his Religion and Sanctity as he did heal any sick Man by his Prayers 7. Lo here the Popes Legate among the Britans did also Miracles before the coming of St. Augustin And then further talking of the Church Solemnity that day he saith Postremo peract â processione tot organa tot cantus fiunt utrisque templis c. Lastly the Procession being ended there were so many Organs did sound and so great variety of Music heard in both Churches as was wonderful c. Behold Procession and Organs in Britanny before St. Augustin's coming This Man afterwards left of his own will the said Archbishoprick and became an Ermit as both Jeffrey and John Bale do testifie which Protestant Bishops are not wont to do 8. And further Bale writeth of him that he died the 18 day before the Calends of December Anno Domini 522. and that his Body afterward in the year of our Lord 1120 the Sixth of May was translated under Vrban Bishop of Rome to the Church of Landaff in Southwales All which could never have been done nor permitted by the Bishop of Rome if there had been any Suspicion that he had held any Point of Doctrin different from the Church and Faith of Rome at that time which maketh also the matter evident that the Heretical Custom of celebrating Easter according to the Jews which in St. Gregory's time was found in Britanny was a latter custom not held by all but by some few only 9. In this Man's place was made Archbishop the famous Man David Menevensis King Arthurs Unkle as Jeffrey and Bale do testifie who passed the said Archbishoprick from Chester to St. Davids and so it is called at this day of his Name This David saith Bale was a goodly Man of Stature about four cubits high learned and eloquent and after ten whole years Study in the Scripture expounded the same as a Trumpet carrying always the Text of the Gospel with him He extinguished the Relics of the Pelagian Heresies in Britanny preached incessantly cured many sick and built twelve Monasteries and was held for a very great Saint in his days and canonized afterward by Calixtus II. Bishop of Rome c. Per Calixtum secundum saith he Papisticorum deorum ascribitur in Catalogum He was put in the Catalogue of the Papistical Gods by
of the Kings and Queens inclination as he presumeth and of the great Authority of Cranmer Cromwell and some other that he calleth his Gospellers or Patrons rather of his Gospel And yet if you behold the external Face of the English Church at this day all these named and others held the Catholic Faith Use and Rites and both King and Queen Cranmer and Cromwell went as Devoutly to Mass as ever before and so remained they in outward shew I mean the former three even to their Deaths And Cromwell when he was to die protested on the Scaffold that he was a good Catholic Man and never doubted of any of the Church Sacraments then used and the like would Cranmer have done no doubt if he had been brought to the Scaffold in King Henries days as he was to the Fire afterwards in Queen Maries which had been a happy case for him 9. There ensued the year 1534 which was the year indeed of open breach with Rome for that an Excommunication being set forth by Pope Clement VII against King Henry VIII upon notice given of his Marriage and the said Excommunication set up in Dunkirk and other Towns in Flanders which did import the consent also and concurrence of Charles the Emperour and then certain Prophesies being blown about at home as coming from Elizabeth Barton sirnamed the holy Maid of Kent about the King's Deprivation he was much more exasperated than before and so calling a Parliament caused the Pope's Authority to be wholly extinguished and transferred to himself and made divers Bishops in order to preach at Paul's Cross against the Pope's Supremacy over the Catholic Church But what may we think that these Bishops did in so small a time change their belief in matters of Faith The King also being angry with divers Friars as namely with F. Elstow beforenamed that contradicted Cutwyne the Preacher when he inveighed against the Pope's Authority did this year upon the 11th of August ordain That all the observant Friars of St. Francis's Order should be thrust out of their Convents beginning with Greenwich where the said contradiction was made and to seem somewhat to favour the Augustin-Friars of whose Order Luther had been he commanded them for the present to be put in their places yet did he at the very same time cause John Frith to be burn'd in Smithfield for denying the Blessed Sacrament and this by his own particular order which Frith and his Master Tyndal were the greatest Enemies that Friars had 10. He burned also this year Henry Poyle William Tracy and other Protestants as Fox testifieth in his Calendar So as we may see that the King's Faith was as before and tho' he were content to suffer some new-fangl'd Spirits to ruffle at this time as namely Friar Barnes in London where he preach'd most seditiously and Hugh Latimer in Bristol where as Stow saith he stirred a notorious Tumult causing the Mayor to suffer Lay men to preach and to prohibit and imprison Priests and other like Disorders yet what the King thought inwardly of them he declared afterwards by his acts when he burned Barns and cast Latimer into the Tower and kept him there with evident danger of his life so long as himself lived which disposition of King Henry Tyndal smelling at the same season wrote from Flanders to his Scholar John Frith Prisoner in the Tower of London in these words And now methinketh I smell a counsel to be taken c. But you must understand that it is not of a pure heart and the love of Truth but to avenge themselves and to eat the Whores flesh and to suck the marrow of her bones c. So wrote that honest man signifying that King Henry was resolved to make an outward shew in favouring the Gospellers not for love or liking he had of them but to revenge himself of the Pope and to enjoy the Goods of Monasteries and other spiritual Livings which he in his blasphemous heretical vein calleth the Whores flesh and marrow of her bones 11. Well then this was the beginning of their Gospel in England by their own Confession and Interpretation and so whatsoever was done from this year forward against Catholics or Catholic Religion unto the 31st year of his Reign which was of Christ 1540 to wit for five whole years was upon these grounds and to the former ends of Revenge and Interest if we believe Protestants themselves in which point notwithstanding for that divers Godly Learned and Zealous men could not be content to follow the King's affections as others did and namely Bishop Fisher of Rochester Sir Thomas More late Chancellor of England and divers most Reverend and Venerable Abbots Priors and Doctors and other their like they were content to give their Blood in defence of Catholic Unity against this Schism as the Abbots of Glastenbury of Whaley of Reading Dr. Forest Queen Catharine's Confessor Dr. Powel and the like 12. Some others and amongst them one most near to the King himself both in Blood and Affection namely Cardinal Pool opposed himself by public Writing from Padua as we may see by those three learned Books left by him in Latin De Unitate Ecclesiae Others also of the same Blood-Royal as the Marquess of Exceter and Countess of Salisbury the said Cardinal's Mother shewed their dislike which afterwards was the cause of their ruin and many Shires also of the Realm at this time not being so patient as to bear these Innovations took Arms and fell into great Commotions as in Lincolnshire Yorkshire Somersetshire and some other Provinces making all their Quarrels for matters of Religion 13. So as by this we see that Catholic Religion remained still in England both in Prince and People but that the Prince for a time thought good for other ends to tolerate and wink at disorders therein until the aforesaid year of 1540 when calling all his Realm together both Spiritual and Temporal to examin well this matter of Religion they decreed that famous Statute both in Parliament and Consistory Ecclesiastical called the Statute of six Articles or as John Fox nameth it the whip with six strings or lashes in which Decree are condemned for detestable Heresies all the most substantial points of Protestants Doctrin especially of Zwinglians and Calvinists and most severe punishment of Death appointed unto the Defenders and Maintainers thereof whereby the Catholic Judgment and Censure of the whole Realm in that behalf was seen and the King himself made further declaration thereof presently for his own part by putting away his German Wife Anne of Cleve by which the Gospellers had thought to have drawn him further into League and Religion with the Protestant German Princes and by punishing Cromwell the Head and Fountain of most of these Innovations by the loss of his Head. He burned also immediately after this Statute in Smithfield upon the promulgation thereof three famous Heretics Barns Jerom and Gerard
for a time Brentius as appeareth in his Confession of Wittemberg and some others of that Sect. But this Opinion of Luther did not long please his Followers for that Ph. Melancthon his chief Scholar did soon after teach the contrary viz. That the Church was visible to the eyes of men also And the Magdeburgians do hold the same defining every-where the Church to be a visible Company of Men. Which going back of the principal Lutherans in this point it being done by a certain Consultation had thereof among themselves as Fredericus Staphylus the Emperor's Counsellor that had been one of them affirmeth was some Cause perhaps that Calvin coming presently after them took upon him to defend the same Doctrin again saying Nobis invisibilem c. We are forc'd to believe the Church to be invisible and to be seen only by the eyes of God. Lo Calvin putteth necessity in this point of Belief 13. The Causes that moved the chief Lutherans to go back from their first Opinion about the invisibility of the Church were principally the apparent Evidences and Demonstrations which Catholics do alledge both out or Scriptures Fathers common sense and reason for overthrow of that most fond and ridiculous Paradox And first out of holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament these men being not able to alledge any one place where the Name of God's Church is applied to an Invisible Congregation the Catholics on the contrary side pressed them with many most evident Texts of Scripture where it was and is used for a visible Company of Men as that in the Book of Numbers ch 20. Cur eduxisti Ecclesiam Domini in solitudinem Why hast thou brought the Church of God into the Desart And again in 3 Kings ch 8. Convertitque Rex faciem suam benedixit omni Ecclesiae Israel omnis enim Ecclesia Israel stabat c. The King turning his face about did bless all the Church of Israel for that all the Church of Israel was present c. Which places and many the like cannot possibly be understood of an Invisible but of a Visible Company 14. And much more if we consider the speeches of Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament as these words of Christ Dic Ecclesiae si Ecclesiam non audierit c. Tell the Church and if he hear not the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen or Publican But if the Church were invisible neither could a man complain to the Church nor hear the Church Moreover St. Paul exhorteth the chief Pastors of the Ephesians to attend diligently to their charge Acts 20. In quo vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei In which the H. Ghost hath placed you as Bishops to govern the Church of God. But how could they being visible men govern a Company that was invisible not to be seen 15. And yet further when St. Paul and St. Barnabas went up from Antioch to Jerusalem the Scripture saith Deducti sunt ab Ecclesia c. They were brought on their way by the Church of Antioch and when they came to Jerusalem suscepti sunt ab Ecclesia they were received by the Church And yet further ascendit Paulus salutavit Ecclesiam Paul went and saluted the Church c. All which places cannot agree possibly to an invisible Church and yet that this was the true Primitive Church of Christ no man can deny 16. And finally when St. Paul doth teach Timothy his Scholar 1 Tim. 3. Quomodo oporteat conversari in Domo Dei quae est Ecclesia c. How he should converse and govern the House of God which is his Church Columna Firmamentum Veritatis the Pillar and Firmament of all Truth Ibid. All this I say had been spoken to no purpose if the true Church of Christ were invisible for how can a man converse in a Congregation which he cannot see or know or how can the Church be a Pillar and sure Firmament of Truth to resolve all Doubts and Questions that may fall out about Scriptures Articles of Belief and Mysteries of Christ's Religion if it be an invisible Congregation that no man seeth discerneth or knoweth where or how to repair unto it nor who are the persons therein contained 17. And lastly not to stand longer upon this matter that is so evident in it self and plain to common sense and reason if the true Church of Christ be a Society not of Angels Spirits or Souls departed but of Men and Women in this life that must be governed or govern therein how can they be invisible And if they must have Communion together in external Sacraments and namely in Baptism and participation of the Body of Christ if they must profess the Name and Doctrin of Christ externally to the World as also to be persecuted and put to death for the same if all men must repair unto them and those that be out of the Church to enter and be received therein and those that be in her to be resolved of their doubts to lay down their complaints to be governed and directed by her and finally to obey her under pain of Damnation how can all this be performed if she be invisible to man's eyes and only seen by the eyes of God 18. To alledge Fathers and Doctors in this behalf were both endless and needless for that all of them every-where almost are occupied in setting forth not only the Visibility but the Splendor also and Greatness yea the multitude and external Majesty of Christ's Church throughout the World in their days and only St. Augustin may serve for all who dilateth himself every-where in this Argument shewing how the little Stone prophesied by Daniel was grown to be a huge Mountain and terrible to the whole World and that the Tabernacle of Christ which is his Church was placed by him in the Sun to be seen of all and that it was a City upon a Mountain which none could be ignorant of and other like Discourses founded on evident Scriptures Whereby is refuted not only the first shift of Luther and Calvin making the true Church of Christ invisible but also the second of these latter Lutherans who tho' overcome with the former proofs do grant the Church to be a visible Company yet do they deny it to be that external conspicuous Succession of Bishops and Councils which have been most eminent in the known Christian Church from the Apostles downward but rather to be some few obscure and contemptible people which they call the Elect that have lived or lurked from time to time in shadows and darkness and known to few or none 19. But this second device is more fond than the former for where shall a man seek out these hidden Fellows to treat with them or to receive Sacraments at their hands how shall they be known how may they be trusted whence have they
other Church or Chappel of the Devil to deface and malign the same necessary it is that the difference between them both be seen and the descent of the right Church to be described from the Apostles time c. 26. Here we see all John Fox his drift laid down First he meaneth to contradict all former Writers that have magnified the Church of Rome and the Greatness and Glory thereof which he calleth the Devil's Chappel And in this he must contradict all the ancient Fathers and Writers for divers hundred years after Christ as Irenaeus Tertullian Augustin Optatus and other Writers that bring down the descent of the true Church of Christ by the Succession of the Bishops and Church of Rome as before you have heard And secondly Fox meaneth to set out another Christian Church trodden under foot before neglected in the World not regarded in Histories and almost scarce visible or known and yet was and is forsooth the only true Church of Christ keeping some spark of his true Doctrin and Religion he doth not say that all was true which she held nor that all Christ's Doctrin was taught in her but only some sparks or scraps of true Doctrin And further he promiseth that he will describe the descent of this Church from the Apostles time 27. This is John Fox his promise and we accept thereof And tho' it be scarce worth the performance to shew us a hidden obscure and trodden down Church in every Age that keepeth some sparks of true Doctrin and Religion for that every Sect and Heresie not denying Christ and his Doctrin wholly doth so yet shall we accept and exact the same being never so miserable and beggarly as we go over the whole course of Times and Ages from Christ downward following therein the distribution it self that John Fox hath appointed to be observed in his Story to wit from Christ to Constantine 300 years from Constantine to S. Gregory as much from S. Gregory and S. Augustin our Apostles to the Conquest 400 and odd years from the Conquest to Wickliff other 300 years from Wickliff to Luther about 240 from Luther's time to ours somewhat less than a hundred In all which variety of Times we shall examin briefly Whether John Fox his Church were on foot or no What Continuance or Succession it may be said to have had Where when and by what men it was begun continued and acknowledged What Doctrin it held and whence and with what Vnion or Conformity with it self or with the Catholic Roman Church Which Catholic Church being shewed and declared in the first Part of this Book to have been founded by the Apostles and conserved visibly from that time hither by Succession of Bishops and Prelates Governors and Professors thereof will easily also bring in the Notice and Certificate of John Fox his opposite Church whereof now we begin to treat CHAP. II. The particular Examination of the Descent or Succession of John Fox his Church in England or elsewhere for the first Three Hundred years after CHRIST to wit unto the time of Constantine the Emperour And whether any such Church was extant then in the World or no and in Whom HE that will consider the proportion of John Fox his Book of Acts and Monuments in the latter Edition he shall find it the greatest perhaps in Volume that ever was put forth in our English Tongue and the falsest in substance without perhaps that ever was published in any Tongue The Volume consisteth of above a thousand Leaves of the largest Paper that lightly hath been seen and every Leaf containeth four great Columns and yet if you consider how many Leaves of those thousand he hath spent in Deduction of the whole Church either His or Ours and the whole Ecclesiastical Story thereof for the first thousand years after Christ they are by his own account but threescore and four to wit scarce the thirtieth part of that he bestoweth in the last five hundred years 2. And further if this his thousand years Story containing threescore and four leaves be sifted and examined what it containeth not four of them do appertain to that which he should handle which is the visible Deduction of his Church as we shall endeavor briefly to shew dividing the whole thousand and threescore years from Christ to William the Conqueror into four distinct Times or Stations appointed out by John Fox himself in his Book to wit the first from Christ to Constantine containing 300 years the second from Constantine to K. Ethelbert's Conversion by St. Augustin containing other 300 years the third from King Ethelbert and other six Kings of England reigning jointly with him unto King Egbert the first Monarch of the English Nation which space is somewhat more than other 200 years and the fourth from King Egbert to William the Conqueror containing the same or some few more years 3. Let us now follow I say John Fox throughout all these Ages and different stations of times and see out of what Holes or Dens he will draw his little hidden trodden down Church different from the Roman Visible Church and yet endued notwithstanding from time to time with some little sparks of Truth which he promiseth to bring down from the Apostles to our time In the first 300 years then from Christ to Constantine whereas all other Ecclesiastical Writers and St. Luke amongst the rest in his Acts of the Apostles ch 2 3 4 c. do set down the visible beginning of Christ's Church by his Apostles and Disciples their strengthening and confirmation by the coming of the Holy Ghost their preaching and converting of others their great and many Miracles and thereby the establishing and wonderful increase of the said Church throughout the World and continuance of the same downward by Succession of Bishops but namely and specially of the Bishops of Rome as before hath been declared and is to be seen in the Writings of Dionysius Areopagita Josephus Justinus Egesippus Clemens Irenaeus Tertullian Origenes Julius Africanus Cyprian Eusebius and others of these Ages John Fox followeth no such order at all nor ever so much as mentioneth any descent of Bishops of His Church or Ours but only to spend time and fill up Paper taketh upon him to translate out of Eusebius and other Authors the Martyrdoms of such as suffered for Christian Religion in the ten general Persecutions of these first 300 years setting the same forth also in painted Pictures for no other purpose as it seemeth but only to entertain his Reader with some strange and delightful Spectacle and afterward so to joyn his Protestant burned Martyrs with those of the Primitive Church as the Painting being somewhat alike the simple Reader might thereby be induced to think that there was no great difference either in their Persons or Cause of suffering 4. But I would ask John Fox To what purpose of his was the bringing in of all these Martyrs of the Primitive
Catholic Church had all Truth in it that was revealed by Christ and not some sparks only as Fox requireth in his Church and that it had continual Succession of multitudes of true Teachers without interruption and not one starting up in one Age and another in another wherewith Fox seemeth to be contented for the continuation of his Church 25. And finally if Fox coming at length to be asham'd of his former definition of an obscure and trodden-down Church and of the sparkled Doctrin of Truth therein taught should leave the same and offer to lay hands on the Great Illustrious and Visible Church of the first 300 years saying that this was His which yet you have seen by many Arguments demonstrated that it cannot be I shall be content to admit so ridiculous a pretence for a time with condition that he will stand to it and go forward with this Church in the sequent Ages and not to disclaim from Her to his hidden Church again Which if he yield unto then have we now a Visible and Eminent True Church on foot by confession of both Parties which we must follow to the Worlds end for that she cannot perish again as before we have declared For which cause I am to prosecute the same from Age to Age in this Treatise from this time downwards to our days in the Chapters that do ensue where we shall see who sticketh to her and who flieth from her who followeth her constantly or who giveth the slip for that she being now once so Potent Notorious and Illustrious as both Parts do confess if he will stand to it in earnest that she is his Church also it is not possible that she should be lost shrink or fade away again but that all the World must see it How Where When and by Whom so great an Accident should fall out neither can Fox and his People being now once in Her and of Her by his own pretence be found out of her afterward but only by Apostacy or Heresie and running away This then let us examin in the Ages following CHAP. III. The prosecution of the same matter to wit of the Descent of the Catholic and Protestant Church for other Three Hundred years that is from Pope Sylvester and Constantine to Pope Gregory and Mauritius the Emperour And where John Fox his Church lay hid in this time AND thus having run over the first three Ages after Christ we must now pass to the second station which is for other 300 years beginning from Constantine the Emperour downward unto the time of St. Gregory under whom St. Augustin came into England in which space of time the Catholic Christian Church spread over all the World as before you have heard did grow and confirm it self powerfully especially after Persecution did cease as by all Stories appeareth having had thirty-two Popes between Sylvester and Gregory whereof thirty were holden for great Saints and three or four were Martyrs 2. The Fathers and Doctors also of these three Ages were most excellent men both Grecians and Latins and it seemeth that what wanted in these three Ages from the former three in the Glory of Martyrdom it was supply'd by the Excellency of Learning As for Example in the fourth Age after Christ which is the first of the second three did flourish Eusebius Lactantius Rheticius Juvencus Athanasius Hilarius Optatus Climacus Basil Nazianzenus Ambrose Prudentius Hierom Chrysostom Epiphanius Cyril and divers others In rhe fifth Age St. Augustin Possidonius Sulpitius Orosius Cassianus Prosper Vincentius Lyrinensis Falgentius and many more And in the sixth Age Cassiodorus Emisenus Procopius Fortunatus Venantius Evagrius Gregorius Turonensis and Gregory the Great All which filled the World with their excellent Books both Greek and Latin besides many General National and Provincial Councils whereof five were Universal the first of Nice the second of Constantinople the third of Ephesus the fourth of Chalcedon wherein there were 630 Bishops and the fifth was of Constantinople the second time but of Provincial and National Councils there are receiv'd to the number of almost seventy to have been held in this time 3. By all which concourse of Testimonies the Force and Unity of Catholic Faith is shewed to wit that these Fathers Doctors Popes and Councils agreeing together all throughout the World in one and the self-same Faith and Religion and continuing the same from Age to Age with so great Authority of Respect and Majesty as not only all Ecclesiastical Persons of what Nations soever and other Christian People but all Temporal Princes Kings and Emperours in like manner except such as were noted with any particular Heresie as some Emperours of the East did wholly submit themselves with one consent Whereby this visible Illustrious Roman Church was made so Great and Universal notorious and known embracing all Christendom as it is wholly impossible for John Fox to find out any creeping hidden Church bearing the name of Christian in these three Ages and yet different from this visible and splendent Church of Rome which he calleth the Devil's Chappel And much more hard will it be for him to find out this in these latter three hundred years than in the former for that the external Glory of this Church was increased much more in these three Ages than in the first three before treated of which passed all in Persecution 4. The Heresies also and Sects of this time being above Fifty in number were beaten down more strongly by the foresaid Fathers Bishops and Councils than before by reason they had more time and leisure from Persecution to attend unto them than had those of the former three Ages The principal Heresies of this fourth Age were Meletians Donatists Arians Novatians Macedonians Luciferians Aërians Eunomians Apollinarians Aetians Priscillianists Jovinians Vigilantians Collyridians Helvidians Antimarians and other the like And in the fifth Age were Pelagians Nestorians Eutychians and other such Rabble And in the sixth Age Severians Monothelites Chrystolytes Agnoites Sadduces Theopaschites and the like Out of which Synagogues and Congregations of wrangling Spirits which succeeded one another in divers Times Places and Countries and opposed themselves maliciously out of their obscure corners against the shining Light of the foresaid Catholic Church if John Fox will frame his poor and beggarly Church which yet he holdeth for the only true Church of God oppressed and trodden down as he saith and almost scarce visible to worldly eyes he may do it with great probability for that these Fellows were neglected and trodden down indeed by the other opposite Roman Church and yet did they as John Fox requireth for the Succession of his Church continue and rise up from time to time tho' by no orderly Succession of Bishops or Doctrin as hath been said yea they had that other quality also proper to John Fox his Church that they always kept some sparks of true Doctrin and Religion together with their Heresies So as in this
West by the foresaid Pope Leo III. And during this Race of time the said Universal Church flourished greatly by Learned Men and Holy Bishops whereof the principal were St. Isidorus Archbishop of Sevil Sophronius Leontius Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury Venerable Bede Johannes Damascenus Paulus Diaconus Alcuinus our Countrey-man Vsuardus and others 4. This time had many Learned Councils also whereof two were General the one being the third of Constantinople the other the second of Nice Whereby were beaten down all the Heretics of those days the principal whereof were the Jacobites the Armenians Monothelites Neophonites Lampetians Agnychites Iconomachians or Image-breakers and other the like Besides all this there was added to the Greatness of this Church the new Conversion of many Countries from Paganism to Christian Religion Amongst which may principally be recounted our English Saxons as also by their means divers Provinces afterward of High and Low Germany And this for the continuance and going forward of the Christian Catholic Church in general planted by Christ and brought down by Succession from the Apostles time 5. But if you will talk of our new English Church planted in this mean space and inserted or united to that General Catholic Church as a Branch or Member to the whole Body and as a new Daughter subordinate to her Mother we shall see her progress to be conform thereunto to wit that she multiplied mightily in these 200 years both in Number Doctrin and great Piety of Life which John Fox himself is forced to confess in that he having told us of the Conversion of seven English Saxon Kingdoms within the compass of this time he setteth down divers Tables in the end of all whereof one is of seventeen Archbishops of Canterbury from Augustin to Celnothus that lived with King Egbert and another Table of thirty Cathedral Churches Abbies and Nunneries builded and abundantly endowed by Christian English Kings Queens and Bishops of that time and a third Table of nine several Kings besides many more of chief Nobility both Men and Women who leaving the World and their Temporal States entred into a Religious Life the more strictly to serve Almighty God. All which John Fox is forc'd to recount against himself and findeth no one in all this time of 200 years and much less any company on whom he dareth lay hands to build up his hidden Church in England withal 6. And it is to be noted by the Reader and by us to be repeated again for better memories sake that which before we admonished to wit that Fox findeth these 200 years of our first English primitive Church so barren of matter for his purpose as in the whole story thereof he spendeth only eight Leaves of Paper and these rather in deriding and scoffing the same and principal Pillars thereof than writing any Ecclesiastical History For which cause you shall find these Notes and Titles commonly written over the heads of his Leaves and Pages Augustin's arrival in Kent Gregory the basest Pope but the best Proud Augustin Lying Miracles Shaven Crowns Beda his Birth and the like Of which Learned Holy Man's Story I mean St. Bede he maketh so little account as in the same place reciting a Letter out of him written by a holy Man Ceolfride Abbot of Sherwyn in Northumberland to Naitonus King of the Picts he saith thus The Copy of which Letter as it is in Bede I have annexed not for any great reason therein contained but only to delight the Reader with some pastime in seeing the fond Ignorance of that Monkish Age c. Whereby we may see the drift of this pleasant Fox in these his Acts and Monuments which is to discredit that whole Time and all our Primitive Church 7. But yet to the end that the saying of Christ may be fulfilled in him Ex ore tuo te judico Serve nequam I do judge thee out of thy own mouth thou wicked Servant I shall here set down two National Synods gathered in England in these two Ages by two famous Archbishops of Canterbury the one Theodorus in the year of Christ 680 and related by Beda and the other St. Cuthbert in the year 747 related by William of Malmsbury after Bede's death and both of them set down by Fox And by viewing the Decrees of these two Synods you will see whether those Ages were so fond in Ignorance as Fox maketh them Out of the first Synod held at Thetford Fox gathereth ten Decrees in these words 8. I. That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observed throughout the whole Realm upon a certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi II. That no Bishop should intermeddle within the Diocese of another III. That Monasteries consecrated unto God should be exempt and free from the Jurisdiction of Bishops IV. That the Monks should not stray from one place that is from one Monastery to another without the license of their Abbot also to keep the same Obedience which they promised at their first entring V. That no Clergy-man should forsake his own Bishop and be received in any other place without Letters Commendatory of his own Bishop VI. That Foreign Bishops and Clergy-men coming into the Realm should be content only with the benefit of such Hospitality as should be offered them neither should they intermeddle any further within the Precinct of any Bishop without his special permission VII That Synods Provincial should be kept within the Realm at least once a year VIII That no Bishop should prefer himself before another but must observe the time and order of his Consecration IX That the number of Bishops should be augmented as the number of People increased X. That no Marriage should be admitted but that which was lawful no Incest to be suffered neither any man to put away his Wife for any cause except only for Fornication after the Rule of the Gospel And these be the principal Chapters of that Synod c. 9. Out of the second Synod held at Clonisho Fox gathereth thirty-one Decrees as followeth I. That Bishops should be more diligent in seeing to their Office and in admonishing the people of their faults II. That they should live in a peaceable mind together notwithstanding they were in place dissevered asunder III. That every Bishop once a year should go about all the Parishes of his Diocese IV. That the said Bishops every one in his Diocese should admonish their Abbots and Monks to live regularly and that Prelates should not oppress their Inferiors but love them V. That they should teach the Monasteries which the secular men had invaded and could not then betaken from them to live regularly VI. That none should be admitted to Orders before his Life should be examined VII That in Monasteries the reading of Holy Scripture should be more frequented VIII That Priests should be no disposers of secular business IX That they should take no money for baptizing
to divert these Prophesies from the true Antichrist and apply them to certain Bishops of Rome do beat their heads how to devise out some new Expositions of these numbers never heard or thought of before And namely John Fox more fondly than the rest will have the number of 42 Months to import 294 years that is every Month to signifie seven years or as fantastically he calleth it a Sabbath of Years For proof whereof having neither Authority nor any one Example of Scripture he confirmeth it by a Revelation of his own as after you shall hear 10. His device therefore is That the 1000 years wherein Sathan is said in the Ayocalypse to be ty'd up must begin as you see after the said 294 years of Heathen Persecution were ended So that the loosing out of Sathan against the Church again must fall in the year of Christ 1294 when Bonifacius VIII was chosen Pope or as the Monks Prophesie was upon the year 1260 when Antichrist was born Which is both contrary to that he said before that he was loosed about the year 900 as also that the Popes Gregory VII and Innocentius III. by Sathan's help no doubt overthrew the Church about the year of Christ 1080 or 1215 For if that Sathan was bound and not loosed until the year of Christ 1294 how could he overthrow the Church before 11. Wherefore all these new Interpretations of the words of the Apocalypse are but fantastical devices of wrangling Heretics seeing the ancient Fathers do interpret all these things far otherwise And first they put the binding up of Sathan for 1000 years there mentioned before the other number of 42 Months given to Antichrist to work his will and do say that the said loosing of Sathan began from the very Death and Passion of Christ when the power of Sathan was bound according to the saying of Christ himself in St. John's Gospel drawing near to his Passion Now the Prince of this World shall be cast forth And secondly they do interpret these 1000 Years not to signifie any certain time but generally to signifie all the whole course of time between the death of Christ and the coming of Antichrist three years and a half before the Day of Judgment according to the ordinary phrase of Scripture As for Example Quod mandavit Deus in mille generationes God hath commanded his Precept to be kept for a thousand Generations that is to say to the Worlds end and not for any certain time And again in Job If a Just man should contend with God he cannot answer him one for a thousand 12. This then is the ancient Interpretation of holy Doctors quite contrary to these new fancies of John Fox whose Expositions are both contrary to himself as in part you have seen and opposite to the words and sense of Scripture it self For whereas first these 42 Months importing by his Account 294 years were given to Sathan to work his will against the Saints of God the Scripture saith they were given to the Beast that is to say to Antichrist by the Dragon and not to the Dragon himself And secondly whereas he would needs have the 42 Months to signifie 294 years the Scriptures do expound them by 1260 days which make just three years and a half as hath been said 13. Thirdly Fox shall never find any place or example in Scripture where the word Month either in Greek or Latin doth signifie seven Days Weeks or Years as in Daniel the Greek word Hebdomada doth and may by its proper signification And yet is John Fox so fond and resolute in his device as all other proofs and probabilities failing him he will needs confirm it by a Revelation from God which he recounteth in these words following 14. Because the matter saith he being of no small importance greatly appertaineth unto the public utility of the Church and lest any should misdoubt me herein to follow any private Interpretations of my own I thought good to communicate to the Reader that which hath been imparted unto me in the opening of these Mystical Numbers in the foresaid Book of Revelation contained by occasion as followeth c. 15. As I was in hand with these Histories c. being vexed and turmoiled in spirit about the reckoning of these Numbers and Years it so happened upon a Sunday in the morning lying in my Bed and musing about these Numbers suddenly it was answered to my mind as with a majesty thus saying inwardly within me Thou Fool count these Months by Sabboths as the Weeks of Daniel are counted by Sabboths The Lord I take to witness thus it was Whereupon thus being admonished I began to reckon the 42 Months by Sabboths first of the Months and that would not serve and then by Sabboths of Years and then I began to feel some probable understanding Yet not satisfied herewith eftsoons I repaired to certain Merchants of my acquaintance of whom one is departed a true and faithful Servant of the Lord the other two yet alive and Witnesses hereof to whom the number of these foresaid Months being propounded and examined by Sabboths of Years the whole Sum was found to surmount to 294 years containing the full and just time of the foresaid Persecutions neither more nor less c. 16. And thus you have the Revelation made to John Fox which he saith that he relateth unto us for that we shall not misdoubt the truth thereof nor think that he followeth any private Interpretation of his own but that it came from God immediately And this is the first Dream of John Fox in his Bed. And the second ridiculous point is that he went to three Merchants to confer this Revelation and that they approved the same The third point is open Folly where he saith that this number of 294 containeth the full and just time of the first Persecution of Christians under Pagan Emperours neither more nor less which before hath been confuted and is evident in it self seeing that from Christ to the Victory of Constantine against Maxentius there are assigned by Eusebius 318 years and yet did not this Persecution of Christians cease then neither but continued under Licinius and other Tyrants for divers years after See then how just these Numbers fall out neither more nor less All which being considered I find no one thing so true or credible in all this Revelation as those words of the Spirit unto him saying Thou Fool for that this maketh him a Fool indeed by Revelation And so much of him and of this whole matter of binding and loosing Sathan and Reign of Antichrist Now let us return to the continuation of our Conference with John Fox about his Church 17. The deduction of the Catholic Roman Church from William the Conqueror downward unto John Wickliff's time is no less easie and clear but rather more than the former deduction from Christ to the Conquest for that the Church was now more spread and
established over the World than in any other former Ages And to come unto the particulars there sate in the See of Rome as High-Bishops of the Universal Church from Pope Alexander II. that sent a Banner blessed unto William the Conqueror at his entrance into England and was the 162 Pope from St. Peter to our time unto Pope Gregory XI under whom Wickliff began his Doctrin 45 Popes and in the Roman Empire from Henry IV. unto Charles IV. succeeded 19 Emperours and in the Crown of England 10 or 11 Kings from the Conqueror to Edward III. under which Kings there succeeded by Election in the Metropolitan See of Canterbury from Stigand and Lanfrank unto Thomas Arundel 20 Archbishops All which both Popes and Emperours of the Universal Church as also the Kings and Archbishops of our Island agree uniformly in Faith and Religion without any difference at all and so it continued in our Island For albeit towards the end of this time John Wickliff with his Followers and some other Sectaries especially the Lollards rose up in our Country and caused many troubles both in England and other places yet neither the State of England nor any of our Princes and much less any Bishops or Archbishops ever suffered themselves to be infected therewith So as for the manifest continuation both of Men and Doctrin in these Ages we have no less visible Succession both of Bishops Doctors and Faith than before we have shewed in the former Ages the Succession of Bishops being evident in every Country and Church by their particular Stories and Records as also of Teachers and Doctrin as now we shall shew 18. The principal Learned Men also and Doctors of this time from the Conquest to Wickliff are known As for Example Burchardus Petrus Damianus Lanfrank Anselmus Oecumenius Marianus Scotus Ivo Carnotensis Lambertus Schafnaburgensis Rupertus Abbas Enthymius St. Bernard Peter Lombard Gratianus Albertus Magnus St. Thomas of Aquin Nicephorus Calixtus and many other downward In which time there are accounted some ten or eleven Synods and Councils to have been held in divers Countries for suppressing of Heresies and Sects that did from time to time peep up and reforming of abuses in former times and two of them to have been General to wit that of Lateran and of Constance wherein Wickliff was condemned 19. The most notorious Sects also of this time which against these Doctors Councils and Synods did strive were the Bogomilians the Petrobusians the Arnardistes the Waldenses or poor men of Lyons the Albigenses of Tholosa the Cathari or Puritans the Flagellantes or Whippers the Begardians the Beguisnes and Fraticelli or little Brethren the Lollards and Wickliffists and the rest that ensued Against all which the Church proceeded in all this time by Censures of Councils and Bishops as in all other times before against such men and must do to the Worlds end 20. And now this being so tell me good Reader whether it be not true which St. Augustin saith That it is as easie in all Ages to see where the true visible Church goeth as to see the Sun at noon day when it shineth clearest And where will John Fox go now to seek himself a private hidden Church among Christians except he patch it up of those Heretics by me named and other like as he doth And therein dealeth as if one having shewed the Descent and Continuance of the most Noble and most Ancient House of England by their Arms and Actions would condemn them all presently to have degenerated and bring in a Company of Beggars or Brothers that have run out of that House or were beaten from thence affirming These only to be of the ancient Race of that Family Or as if a man would say of the City of London that for these thousand years and more all those Men or Women that have been punished by the same City for Malefactors were the true Citizens indeed and the others that punished them only Intruders 21. In which Examples notwithstanding tho' they be ridiculous yet is there much more reason or probability than in the other for that any temporal House or Family whatsoever may degenerate and be wholly perverted and any City whatsoever may err alter or be turned upside-down by disorder but the Catholic Church cannot except we deny both the Promise Power and Godhead of Christ himself as our Heretics in effect do tho' not in words whilst they make to themselves a new scarce-visible Church of elect people to wit of their own Election and thereby are forced to say that the great visible Church begun by Christ and continued for many Ages together did at length about the time appointed by Fox tho' they cannot agree at what time wholly forsake Christ and fall to Apostacy becoming the Synagogue of Sathan an Enemy to Christ instead of his Family Kingdom and dearly-beloved Spouse which is so foul and foolish yea ignominious and monstrous an absurdity that it doth not only contradict the whole course of Scriptures which did prophesie and foretell the visible durance and continuance of this Church until the Worlds end but that it should also be the Pillar and Firmament of Truth and so assisted by Christ and his holy Spirit that it should never err nor bring into error and much less fade away or perish 22. The most Learned Father St. Augustin doth handle this matter every-where against the Donatists who like our Protestants would needs have the Universal visible Church in their time to have erred and fallen from Christ and they only as elect Vessels make the true Church tho' scarce visible to the eyes of the World as Fox saith of his Church gathered up of lurking Heretics here and there as after you shall see declared Against which absurdity St. Augustin disputed most learnedly solving first the Arguments which they allege of some evil Men or Popes that may have been in the Church if all were true as they say Nullius hominis quamvis sceleratum immane peccatum c. That no man's sin being never so heinous can prejudicate the promises of God for the visible continuance of the Church to the Worlds end neither can any Impiety of any men whatsoever within the Church bring to pass that the Faith of God which was contained in the promises made to the ancient Fathers concerning the Church of Christ to come and to be spread over the World and now fulfilled in our days should be made void c. 23. And again Albeit this Church be sometimes obscured and shadowed by multitude of scandals yea even then doth she shine and is eminent in her most firm Members c. And yet further Sed illa Ecclesia quae fuit omnium gentium non est periit hoc dicunt qui in illa non sunt O impudentem vocem Illa non est quia in illa tu non es But perhaps you will say saith he to the Donatists that that
of his Church observe what he writeth presently upon the enumeration of these foresaid Pillars of his Church 6. Wherefore if any be so beguiled in his Opinion saith he as to think that the Doctrin of the Church of Rome as now it standeth is of such Antiquity and that the same was never impugned before the time of Luther and Zuinglius now of late let him read these Histories and peruse the Acts of Parliament passed in this Realm of ancient time as Anno 5 Regis Richardi 2. 1380 c. Did you ever hear a man in his Wits reason in this sort How doth this Catalogue I pray you of condemned Heretics for these last 400 years impugn the Antiquity of the Roman Church or Doctrin before that time And again Who doth deny but that the same Roman Church and Doctrin was impugned by old Heretics long before Luther and Zuinglius yea and before Wickliff Waldenses Albigenses and Berengarius were born as by our former deduction hath appeared that she was impugned by Heretics of every Age And moreover To what purpose doth Fox will us to read these Histories and the Acts of Parliament passed against Wickliffians in the time of King Richard II To what purpose I say doth this simple Fellow talk and write this against himself seeing that by these Histories and Statutes we learn nothing as before we have noted but only that his elder Brethren the Lollards and Wickliffians were condemned for Heretics by public Authority of our Realm above 200 years agone Which we grant unto him without further proof 7. Wherefore to leave this childish babling that is without sense consequence or reason and to return to some more serious Argument We shall handle here two Points for better discussion of this Succession of Sectaries alleged by John Fox First What are the Conditions necessarily required to a good Ecclesiastical Succession for demonstrating a Church And then What manner of men these were indeed which Fox doth here assign for Representation of his Church And all shall be done with as much brevity as may be 8. The first Condition is That this Succession of men that make the Church be Universal both in Place and Time that is to say to use St. Augustin's words Non quae hoc loco est sed quae hoc loco per totum Orbem terrarum nec illa quae hoc tempore sed ab ipso Abel usque in finem c. That it be not in this or that particular place only but in this place and throughout the whole World and that it be not only in this or that time but that it be from Abel to the end of the World. By which words of St. Augustin we see that the visible Succession of the true Church must be Universal first in Place and that it must be a visible Company professing Christ under one Faith and Doctrin not in this or that particular Country Province or Place only but over all the World where Christians are And so we see it verified in the Succession of the Roman Church in our former deductions 9. Secondly It must be Universal in Time for that it must not begin from John Wickliff only Bertramus or Berengarius as John Fox doth appoint the Visibility of his Church but it must come down from the Apostles and endure visibly to the end of the World yea from Abel himself as St. Augustin saith for that even from Him Christ instituted a visible Church and continued the same by Succession under all three Laws both of Naturè of Moyses and of Grace as St. Augustin in his Book de Civitate Dei doth declare at large and in our days Dr. Sanders most Learnedly in his Excellent Work de Visibili Monarchia doth prove the same 10. So as this Collection of Sectaries alleged here by John Fox being neither Universal in place nor agreeing in Faith with the Universal known Church of Christendom but with particular Assemblies one in one place and another in another nor yet having Universality of Time as not coming down from the Apostles Age but only for some 400 years as Fox himself confesseth these men I say cannot make a true Church tho' they have some sparks of true Doctrin among them as Fox braggeth seeing it is true which St. Augustin affirmeth Quicunque credunt quòd Christus Jesus in Carne venerit quòd fit Filius Dei c. Et tamen ab ejus Corpore quod est Ecclesia ita dissentiunt ut eorum communio non sit cum toto quacunque diffunditur sed in aliqua parte separata inveniatur manifestum est eos non esse in Catholica Ecclesia Whosoever doth believe that Christ Jesus came in Flesh and that he is the Son of God c. And that they do so dissent from his Body that is the Church as they do not communicate with the whole spread over all parts but only with some separate part it is manifest that these men are not of the Catholic Church And thus much of the first Condition 11. The second Point to be considered is When the ancient Fathers do stand upon visible Succession of Men as a Note of the true Church they meant it especially by Bishops that come down by continual Succession from the Apostles time to ours Ecclesia saith St. Augustin ab Apostolorum temporibus per Episcoporum Successiones certissimas usque ad nostrum deinceps tempora perseverat The true Church doth persevere from the Apostles time unto ours and after us again to the Worlds end by most certain Succession of Bishops c. St. Irenaeus also Tertullian Optatus and St. Augustin before-alleged do each of them as you have heard deduce the visible Succession of the Church from the Apostles to their days by the visible Succession of the Roman Bishops 12. And finally the Sentence of the said holy Father St. Augustin is notoriously known in many parts of his Works concerning the importance of this Succession Tenet me saith he in Ecclesia Catholica ab ipsa Sede Petri ad praesentem Episcopatum Successio Sacerdotum The Succession of Priests he meaneth Bishops from the Seat of St. Peter unto the present Bishop of Rome holdeth me in the Catholic Church And again against his old Master Faustus the Manichee Vides in hac re quid Ecclesiae Catholicae valeat Authoritas quae ab ipsis fundatissimis Sedibus Apostolorum usque ad hodiernum diem succedentium sibimet Episcoporum serie tot populorum consensione firmatur Dost thou not see of what force the Authority of the Catholic Church is which being established by the most firm foundations of the Apostolic See doth endure unto this day by the Race of Bishops succeeding one another and by the consent of so many Nations under their Government 13. Behold here four things especially required by St. Augustin in Succession of men that must demonstrate a true Church First
Religion from those downward to John Wickliffe were commonly infected with some points of these two general Sects the Waldenses or Albigenses it shall not be needful to stand upon the examination of every one of them seeing that their Opinions are known to be such as they could not possibly be of one Church with Fox and his Company Yet must we note this by the way also that Fox doth commit infinite confusion falshood and cosinage in all this his enumeration accounting some for Disciples of the Albigenses that lived 100. years before them As Marsilius Patavinus who lived under Pope Paschasius II. about the year 1110. which is more than an 100 years before Pope Innocentius III. as both Alvarus and Alphonsus de Castro do testifie and never held any points of the former Heresies but only some Propositions agiainst the Degrees and living of Ecclesiastical Persons And the like falshood is to be understood of Gulielmus de Sancto Amore who living about the year 1250. was a Catholic man in all points and only had some quarrellings with Religious Orders As in like sort Armachanus Archbishop of Armach in Ireland also had For which cause only Fox maketh him of his Church though in matters of Religion he held no one Article of the Protestant Faith with him different from the Catholic And consequently Fox doth extremely abuse them by conjoining them here with divers Heretics burned for the foresaid blasphemous Opinions 32. The like may be said of William Occam and Gregorius Arminensis two Catholic Scholmen and every day alleged for such in our Schools Robert Grossead also our Learned Bishop of Lincoln is in the same predicament as in like manner Dante 's and Petrarcha Italian Poets that never held any jot of Protestant Religion in the world And yet are brought in here by John Fox as men of his Church and Belief with the greatest falshood and foolery in the world And this forsooth for that in some place of their Works they reprehend the Manners of Rome or Lives of some Popes in those days Which is as good an Argument as if a man would prove that St. Paul was not of the Faith or Religion of the Corinthians for that he reprehended them sharply for Fornication used among them 33. Wherefore to leave the Rabble that followeth of this people as namely thirty six Citizens of Moguntia burned An. Dom. 1390. and another company of like people to wit one hundred and forty put in the Fire throughout the Province of Narbone and twenty four more put to death in Paris in the Year 1210. and other particular Saints of his Church recounted and Canonized by Fox To leave these I say and to come down to our Lolhards and Wickliffians and their followers in England we have treated of their Doctrin sufficiently in the precedent Chapter shewing how far different it was from that of Fox and his Fellows But now for their Actions we are to consider that the Lolhards began from the year of Christ 1320. or thereabout and Wickliff from the year 1370. and therewith raised infinite Troubles Garboils and Tumults in our Country As may appear by the lamentable Story set down by Thomas Walsingham of the whole people put in commotion in King Richard II. his time against the Nobility and Clergy by these kind of people under their Seditious Captains Jack Straw Wat Tiler and the rest And so again under some other Kings whilst this Heresie lasted And namely against the two valiant and most Catholic Princes King Henry IV. and King Henry V. his Son. In the first year of whose Reign to wit King Henry V. John Stow writeth thus 34. The favorers of Wickliffs Doctrin did nail up Schedules upon the Church Doors of London conteining that there were an hundred thousand ready to rise against all such as could not away with their Sect c. And hereon followed the open Rebellion of Sir John Oldcastle and Sir Roger Acton and others in S. Giles Field by Holborn which before we have touched And yet was the providence of God such as this Sect could never prevail in England neither then or after so Catholic were our Princes until some Points thereof being renewed by Luther and Zwinglius the later was admitted in K. Edward's days I mean the Sect of Zwinglius as all men know Being the first Sect that ever was admitted publickly in England either by Britans or Englishmen from Christ to that day For as for King Henry VIII though in the matter of the Popes Supremacy he admitted the Opinion of Luther yet in other things as before we have shewed at large he held in all Articles the Catholic Roman Faith with singular hatred against both Lollards Wickliffians and Lutherans but much more against Zwinglians and other such Sacramentary Sectaries As by his Laws made for their punishment and repression doth sufficiently appear 35. And albeit his Majesty having yielded once in that one Point of Ecclesiastical Supremacy and subordination which held before all the rest in joint it was no marvel though Sects and Sectaries did grow upon him so fast as with all his severe Laws he could hardly repress them in his own days yet much more were the Judgments of God seen after his death in that presently all was turned upside down in the Minority of his Son notwithstanding his Laws Testament and Ordinances to the contrary And that by those whom he most trusted on that behalf and who in his days had shewed themselves most earnest against Zwinglians and their Doctrin of the Sacrament as a thing most abhorred by the old King their Master I mean Cranmer Ridley Seymor and Dudley the chief changers of all in King Edwards days 36. But this is the common event where Princes be not careful at the beginning as Walsingham doth well note about the rising of Wickliff's Heresie in in the end of King Edward III.'s time when that old King was now impotent and wholly governed by Women leaving the care of his Kingdom in the Hands of his Son the Duke of Lancaster and others that followed him who having partly emulation and jars with the Bishops of Canterbury Winchester London and some other principal men of the Clergy and partly desiring to invade Church Livings which Wickliff preached to be lawful they were content to wink at him yea and to use him and his Doctrin openly against the said Bishops and Clergy as also against Monks and Abbots in the beginning of of K. Richard II.'s time as appeareth both in the said Walsingham and Stow who relate the calling of Wickliff to London for this effect where he was publicly and scandalously born out by the said Duke and Sir Henry Piercy and others of that Faction against the said Bishops Monks and Abbots which here we shall set down in Stows own words taken by him out of Walsingham and other Writers which do contain the very sum of
brag of the obscurity and contemptibility of their Church And so again whereas we hold and highly esteem that our Church hath all truth of Christ's Doctrin and Religion in it Fox writeth of his Church as before we have recorded That by God's mighty Providence there hath always been kept in her some sparks of Christ's true Doctrin and Religion 15. Again whereas we glory that in our Church there is power to absolve from sins security from error and the like Fox denieth these privileges to be in his Church objecting unto us for an error against the first in a certain Treatise of his before his Acts and Monuments That we in our Church have Confession and Absolution at the Priests hands c. And against the second he bringeth in a large Conference of Ridley and Latimer agreeing together that the greater part of the Universal Catholic Church may err but yet fearfully as you shall see more largely in the Third Part of this Treatise when we shall come to treat of these Foxian Saints and their Festival Days Acts and Monuments The same Patriarchs also do censure S. Augustin's Speech before by me alleged for an excessive vehemency for so are their words where he saith That he would not believe the Gospel if the Authority of the Catholic Church did not move him thereunto signifying thereby as before hath been noted that he could not know Scriptures to be Scriptures nor the Gospel to be Gospel neither their sense and meaning to be such as they were taken for but by the Authority of the Universal Catholic Church that had conserved them from time to time and delivered them to him and to the rest of the World for such to be believed 16. Wherefore to conclude this matter seeing that John Fox doth allow so well this Doctrin of his Patriarchs Ridley and Latimer and thereby doth take from the true Church and consequently in his meaning from his own all this excellent Authority which S. Augustin and other Fathers do ascribe to the Catholic Church to wit the Sovereignty of approving or rejecting true or false Scriptures of discerning between Books and Books and judging of their true interpretations and seeing further he taketh away from his Church both Confession and Absolution of sins and all efficacy of Sacraments leaving them only to bare Signs that do signifie and not work seeing he taketh away from her all infallibility of Doctrin confessing that she may err and contenteth himself that she retain ever some sparkles only of true Doctrin and Religion as before hath been shewed out of his own words and considering moreover that he maketh her so poor a thing as now you have seen and furnisheth her with such rags to wit with such variety of Sectaries as is ridiculous to name they disagreeing among themselves and the one most opposite to the other in Doctrin and Belief she being such a Church I say so poor and miserable so obscure and ragged so doubtful and uncertain no marvail tho' they make little account of her or give small credit unto her which in very deed is no greater than is given to the worst man or most dishonest woman living which is to believe her so far as she can prove by others what she saith to be true to wit by Scriptures without which witness none of her own children or houshold will credit or believe her which is a remarkable Point for that with the same condition they will believe the Devil himself and must do if he allege Scriptures in the true sense and meaning 17. And this is the estimation which Protestants do hold of their new Church Now let us pass to speak a word only about the second Point which concerneth the assigning out or description of this Church Clear it is and cannot be denied that Catholics do assign such a Church as may be seen and known by all men begun visibly by Christ himself in Jury when he gathered his Apostles and Disciples together and continued afterward with infinite increase of Nations and People Countries and Kingdoms that in tract of time adjoyned themselves thereunto and that this most manifest notorious and known Church hath endured ever since under the name of the Christian Catholic Church for the space of sixteen hundred years as we have shewed before both largely and particularly in the former Treatise which is plain dealing clear and manifest whereas on the other side the Protestants of our days following herein the steps of old Heretics their Ancestors do seek to assign such a Church as no man can tell where to find it for that it is rather imaginary mathematical or metaphysical than sensible to man's eyes consisting as they teach of just and predestinate men only whom where or how to find you see how uncertain and difficult a thing it is in this mortal life 18. Wherefore as the ancient Fathers condemned wholly the Heretics of their times for this fond and pernicious device and wrote eagerly against the same as S. Cyprian against the Novatians S. Epiphanius and S. Augustin against the Donatists and Pelagians for that under this cover and colour they would make themselves to be the only true Church to wit every Sect their own Sectaries and Congregation saying that they only are predestinate just holy and God's chosen people and consequently also his only true Church so do we at this day stand in the very same controversie with Protestants that seek the same evasion and refuge 19. And he that hath but so much leisure as to read over the Conference of the Third day had between S. Augustin and other Catholic Bishops on the one side and the Bishops of the Donatists on the other side at Carthage by the Emperor's persmission and appointment even upon this very Question of assigning the Church he shall see the matter most clearly handled and that the Catholics of this time do urge nothing in this Point but that S. Augustin and his fellow Catholic Bishops did urge in that Conference against the Donatists and that the Protestants of our time do take no other course of shifting and defending themselves therein than the Donatists did in those days for that after infinite delays and tergiversations used before they could be brought to this Conference which S. Augustin setteth down in the collation of the first and second day when at length in the third days meeting they came to joyn upon the Controversie in hand they began first about the word Catholic it self which the Catholics urg'd against the Donatists as we do now against the Sectaries of this Age and the Donatists sought to avoid the same by the very same sleights which ours do as appeareth by S. Augustin's words 20. Donatistae saith S. August responderunt Catholicum nomen non ex universitate gentium sed ex plenitudine Sacramentorum institutum petiverunt ut pro barent Catholici c. The Donatists did
the universal Church as also of England from the year of Christ 1066. downward The principal Learned Men of this time The Sects Sectaries of this time Aug. l. 1. quaest Evang. q. 38. tract 2. in Epist. Joan. A fit comparison expressing John Fox his Church Psal 47.88 Esay 61. Dan. 2. Mat. 16. 1 Tim. 3. Joan. 16. Mat. 18. St. Augustin impugneth the former absurdities Aug. l. 1. c. 1. contra Epist Parmen Ibid. ep 48. ad Vincent Aug. in Psal 101. conc 2. Aug. ib. Mat. 28. Absurdities Impieties ensuing upon the former Doctrin The patching up of Fox his Church in these Ages The substance of Fox's fourth Book containing 300 years from the Conquest to Wickliff Fox p. 236. Ibid. p. 241. Ibid. p. 255. Pope Gregory VII Fox p. 159. col 2. n. 10. Of Lanfrank Fox p. 167. Of St. Anselm see Edverus in vit S. Ansel apud sur tom 2. Edmund Cantuar. in vit Henr. de viris illust c. 7. Trit de viris illust l. 2. c. 101. l. 3. c. 329. Fox p. 175. Of St. Thomas Becket * Encount 2. c. 10 11 16. Fox p. 209. The state of the Roman Church when Wickliff began Emperours of these Ages The principal Learned Men of this Age. General Council of Florence General Council of Lateran Council of Trent Condemnation of Heretics Aug. de genes ad litteram c. 1. * In his Protest pag. 9. A starting-hole of Fox Fox pag. 390. col 2. n. 33. Fox pag. 400. col 2. Special Judges appointed to examin Wickliff's Doctrin Wickliff's heretical Articles Fox p. 400. Fox's Church made up of our Dunghil clouts Stow Walsing an 1414. Fox from p. 530 to 540. Fox p. 592. Fox maketh adversary Heretics of his Church whether they will or no. Sir John Oldcastle's Protestation at his death Fox p. 520. Fox p. 314. Fox's perfidious dealing Fox p. 529. The Abjuration of Sir John Oldcastle Supra part 1. c. 5. Fox in his Prot. p. 10. Fox's facility in rejecting Parliaments Fox p. 10. in Protest Another Parliament rejected by Fox Fox ib. p. 10. If Wickliffian Preachers were now alive the Protestants would not admit them How Fox hath found out a visible Church and from whence How the Members of Fox's visible Church do hang together Of Lollards their beginning in England Prat. l. 10. haeres p. 157. Trit in chron an Dom. 1315. Fox p. 429. col 1. n. 15. Wickliffians were called Lollards The peculiar Opinions of the Lollards Trit ib. Psal 113. Flagellants or whipping Heretics an Dom. 1350. Trit in chron an 1350. Aeneas Sylv. histor Bohem. cap. 35. The diversity of Sects amongst the Hussites Bon. Decad. 4. lib. 2. Luth. in respons ad Rofensem art 30. Melanct. epist ad Freder Mechonium Anno Dom. 1382. How Fox behaveth himself in defending Wickliffians their Doctrin Fox alloweth taking away of Tythes and Temporalities from the Clergy Fox p. 348. * Supra c. 10. Tertull. l. de Praescript Judic 15. Fox in Protest ad Eccl. Angl. Fox ib. p. 10. * What Learning they were of you shall see afterwards Mark what men Fox doth couple together as of one Faith. A fit similitude comparison Fond reasoning of Fox Two Points to be handled in this Chapter The conditions of Eccles Succession Aug in Psal 90. Conc. 2. ead ferè in Psa 56. True Succession of the Church must be Universal both in place and time Aug. l. de unit Eccles c. 4. Succession is understood principally of Bishops Aug. l. 1. cont advers Leg. Prophet c. 20. Iren. l. 3. c. 3. Tert. de praesc Opt. l. 2. cont Donat. Aug. ep 165. Aug. cont ep fundam c. 4. Aug. l. 2. cont Faust c. 2. Four Points required in true Succession of the Catholic Church The successive Pillars of Fox his Church have no connexion or coherence the one with the other Aug. ep 48. ad Vincent Rogatian Aug. ep 42. ad Mandrens tract 2. in ep Joan. A notable saying of S. Aug. touching Fox's Church The 3 Point required in Succession unity of Faith. Athan. in Symb. * Dom. Thom 22. q. 5. art 3. Caet in cundem Greg. de Valent. ead 4. disp 1. punct 3. Cyp. l. 1. ep 6. ad Magnum Luc. 11. Nazian tract de fide Hier. l. 3. Apol. contra Ruffin Aug. l. de haeres in fine A dreadful Censure of the Fathers against those that be infected with Heresie Aug. ep 48. ad Vincent Enc. 1. The catalogue of John Fox's Church-men Bertramus no Protestant Trit in verbo Bertramus Sand. de visib monarch haer 133. Berengarius no Protestant * De consecrat dist 2. c. Ego Berengarius Fox p. 146. Gerson l. cont Romant Cent. 11. c. 10. p. 527. Abbot Joachim no Protestant Extrav de Trinit Guido Carmel Bern. Luxem in Catalog haereticorum Almaricus was no Bishop nor condemned only for Images Caesar l. dial d. 5. Conc. Nicaen Can. 6. Gagnin l. 6. hist Franc. Gers tract 3. in Matt. Paul Aemil. l. 6. hist Galliae Geneb in chron an 1208. Naucler in hist Tritem in chron Monast Hirsang Geneb in chron an 1215. The Waldenses or poor men of Lyons Aen. Syl. l. 4. de orig Bohem. cap. 35. Vrsper in chron an 1212. Guido Carm. in haeres Waldens Anton. p. 3. sum ti 11. c. 7. Luxemb in haeres paup de Lugduno Absurd positions of the Waldenses Will Fox agree to all this Luc. 22. 1 Cor. 11. The Albigenses and their blasphemous Opinions and Actions Caesar Cistert 5 d. dial Anton. p. 3. tit 19. ca. 1. Vincent in spec l. 3. Caesar 5. dist dialog Luxem haeresi Albig Prateol Sand. ibidem Absurd Articles of the Albigenses and their Heresies The false dealing of J. Fox Marsilius of Padua Alvar. lib. 1. de planct Eccles Castr libr. 6. contra haereses Gulielmus de sancto amore Armachanus Catholic men abused by Fox 1. Cor. 5. The first public tumults of Lollards and Wickliffians in England An. Dom. 1381. Sto. An. Dom. 1414. Sup. c. 9. * Part. 1. cap. 12. The great inconveniences ensuing upon King Henry VIII yielding in one Point only to Heretics Heresies to be stopped at the beginning Sto. an Domini 1377. p. 425. Upon what Cause and Motives Wickliff began his Doctrin The Habit of the first Wickliffians Walsingham an ult Edov. 3. The first Motive of John Wickliff and his favourers Two Apostolical Breves written into England against Wicliffians Walsing in vit Rich. 2. an 1378. The Calamities in England by Wickliff his Doctrin Fox p. 716.717 deinceps The praise of K. Henry VII (a) Stat. an 5. Ricardi 2. an Christi 1390. an 2. Hen. 4. an Christi 1402. (b) Fox in his Protest p. 10. A false flattering Picture set out by Fox of K. Henry VIII Fox p. 732. Fox his Pageants examined See from p. 663. unto 751. That K. Henry's Sword was not for the new Gospel but against it Fox p. 764. See
Paganism to Christian Religion by the especial Diligence Labor and Industry of the same See. Once in the time of the Britans about 180 years after Christ at what time Eleutherius that holy Pope and Martyr converted King Lucius and his Subjects by the Preaching of St. Damianus and his Fellows sent from Rome to that effect And the second time 400 years after that again when our Predecessors the English Saxons were converted by St. Augustin and his Fellow-Preachers sent by St. Gregory the Great then Bishop of Rome to the same end And if it be most certain and cannot be denied that these two so great and universal benefits rightly considered are the highest under Heaven that our Land could receive from any mortal then and that the Obligation of this double Spiritual Birth of ours is so much greater than the Bond we owe to our carnal Parents by how much more weighty and important is our Eternal Salvation than our Temporal Life and Generation let all men consider the barbarous ingratitude of this man that barketh with such spite against the See of Rome the Mother of our Christianity and against her Bishops the Workers of so high a Blessing to us And with this consideration I leave the modest and discreet Readers to judge of the matter as Reason and Religion shall induce them and not as the rage of this and other such raving people would incite them 3. Thus I wrote then and to this declaration and conclusion of mine our Knight taketh upon him now to answer in these words Whereas this Roman Advocate saith That this Land ought to bear more reverence to the See of Rome than other Nations for that it hath received more singular benefits from thence namely that it was converted from Paganism to Christian Religion by the special Diligence Labor and Industry of the same See I answer First That it is apparent by sundry Testimonies that this Land was converted to the Faith long before that time by you specified and not by the Bishop of Rome Gildas testifieth that Britanny received the Gospel in the time of Tiberius the Emperor and that Joseph of Arimathea was sent by Philip the Apostle from France hither where he remained till his death And Bede our Country man likewise doth testifie That in his time this Land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church by which my be gathered that the first Preachers came hither from the East parts of the World and not from Rome More proofs might be set down but I spare them 4. Mark good Reader what manner of Answer this is to my former Speech and how directly these people do go to the matter I said before That the Isle of England wherein so many at this day do rail against Rome hath more obligation of Love towards the same for benefits received than divers other Countries for that the people of this Island have been twice converted by men sent from thence once under Pope Eleutherius almost 200 years after Christ and again under Pope Gregory the Great about the year of our Lord 600. Now to this the Kt. thinketh to have answered well by affirming two or three things First out of Gildas That Britanny received the Gospel in the time of Tiberius the Emperor before any or these two Conversions named by me Which how likely it is Tiberius living but five years after Christ's Ascension shall after be examined Secondly That Joseph of Arimathea was sent by Philip the Apostle out of France into Britanny which yet the true Gildas hath not But by these two Examples the Knight would shew That in Britanny the Faith of Christ was not first of all planted from Rome nor by the Popes thereof or by their industry And to the same effect he allegeth out of Bede the used of observing Easter after the manner of the East Church remaining amongst the Britans in his time whereof he inferreth as you see That it is most like that our first Preachers were from the East and not from the West Church 5. But suppose all these things were true do they overthrow that which I said before in my Ward-word that the Britans were converted under Pope Eleutherius or the Saxons under Pope Gregory and by several Preachers sent from Rome by them They prove only that before these two public Conversions which we owe to the Church and Popes of Rome there might be some sparkles of Christian Faith also in Britanny by other means which I never deny'd but only said that I would have English-men grateful to Rome for these two which Conversions no man can deny without apparent impudence as after more amply shall be shewed where also these Examples alleged out of Gildas and St. Bede shall be examined how far they are true or do make for the purpose here in hand 6. So that this first part of Sir Francis's Answer being nothing to the purpose as you see tho' all were granted which he allegeth Let us hear his second part Secondly saith he tho' it be granted that Eleutherius sending hither Preachers from Rome in King Lucius his time did frist convert this Land to the Christian Faith I say that there is not now the same Faith in Rome that was then There were then no Masses said no setting up of Images in Churches c. Here now if we will take Sir Francis's word we have a sure warrant by his I say that the Faith in Rome is not the same now that it was in Pope Eleutherius his time and that in particular there were neither Masses then nor Images Wherein you may note first that cunningly he holdeth his peace of the Conversion of English-men under St. Gregory which most concerneth us that be of this Nation for that he dareth not deny that both Mass and Images were in use in his time in the Roman Church and Faith and so brought into England by St. Augustin that converted us which is evident in St. Bede in every place of his Story and particularly where he relateth the first entrance of St. Augustin and his Fellows into Canterbury in Procession with a Cross and Image of our Savior in a Banner and that they said their first Masses there in an old Church of St. Martin builded as he saith by the old Christian Romans before their departure out of Britanny 7. And for the time of Eleutherius under whom the Britans were converted tho' it were not hard also to prove the same particulars yet will I not take that disputation now in hand but shall leave it to a better occasion afterward in this Treatise where without standing upon these particular two Doctrins of Mass and Images here mentioned by the Knight I shall shew more general and firm Arguments that the Faith of the Church of Rome under Eleutherius 200 years after Christ was the very same and no other than was that under St. Gregory 400 years after that again nor this
under Gregory different from that which now is in Rome under Clement VIII a thousand years after Gregory and shall endure to the worlds end 8. This I say we shall demonstrate afterward most clearly but yet to the end the Reader may see in the mean space how much credit is to be given to this Knight's I say let him but read the fourth Chapter of his good Masters and chief historical Doctors the Magdeburgians touching the second Age of Christ wherein Eleutherius lived towards the end as also the beginning of the third Age immediately ensuing and he shall find that in the second Age under their ordinary Title of Inclinatio Doctrinae complectens stipulas errores Doctorum that is to say The falling away of Christian Doctrin containing the stubble and errors of Doctors they reprehend Ignatius who was St. John Evangelist's Scholar for using the phrase Offerre Sacrificium immolare to offer and make Sacrifice as also the holy Martyr Irenaeus for saying That Christ had taught a New Oblation in the New Testament which the Church receiving from the Apostles doth offer up throughout all the world c. And in the third Age they accuse that blessed Bishop and Martyr St. Cyprian of Superstition for saying Sacerdotem vice Christi fungi Deo Patri sacrificium offerre that the Priest supplying the place of Christ doth offer Sacrifice to God the Father They reprehend also Tertullian for using the phrase Sacrificium offerre to offer Sacrifice They condemn also St. Martial Scholar of the Apostles themselves for saying Sacrificium Deo creatori offertur in ara Sacrifice is offered to God our Creator upon the Altar among Christians 9. So that if by our Mass Catholics understand no other thing but the public external Sacrifice appointed by Christ in his Church as we do not then may we see that by confession of the Magdeburgians themselves this Mass was as well in use in Eleutherius his time as in time of Gregory I. after him And the like might we shew about the use of Images but that it were over long for this place our intention being only to treat of the Conversion of our Countrey to Christian Religion and to note by the way Which is most to be credited by a discreet man either the I say of a Courtly Knight affirming that Mass was not in the time of Eleutherius or the Testimonies of so many grave and Learned Fathers to the contrary that lived in the same Age to wit Ignatius Martial Irenaeus Tertullian Cyprian and others 10. And this being sufficient for refutation of both parts of Sir Francis's idle reply I shall go forwards to discuss a little the first entrance of Christian Faith into England how and in what time and by whom it is likely that it might be done before the days of Eleutherius and whether this first Conversion or sowing the Faith in our Island may be ascribed also to Rome as well as the other more public Conversions afterward Which if it fall out to be so then hath the Knight instead of diminishing our Obligation to Rome not a little increased the same by mentioning also a third Conversion from that See which I for brevities sake and for that it was less notoriously known than the other two thought good to pretermit in my Ward-word but now being moved thereunto by Sir Francis who fighteth mightily for the most part against himself alleging matters that make for us I shall now briefly discuss more in particular this affair 11. First then no man can deny but that the Death Resurrection and Ascension of our Savior the coming of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and their beginning of Preaching presently upon the same was in the eighteenth year of Tiberius the third Emperor of Rome who living five years after and Caius Caligula other four there entred Claudius who reigned fourteen years and Nero after him as many who in the last year of his Reign put to death St. Peter and St. Paul St. Peter having come to Rome according to Eusebius in the second year of Claudius which was eleven years after the Resurrection of Christ tho' some Authors differ in that account Eusebius his words translated out of Greek by St. Jerome are these Petrus Apostolus Natione Galilaeus Christianorum Pontifex primus c. Peter the Apostle of the Country of Galile the first chief Bishop of Christians after he had founded the Church of Antioch went to Rome and having there preached the Gospel remained Bishop of the same City for twenty five years together c. St. Paul was sent thither Prisoner by Festus Governor of Judaea in the second year of Nero's Reign that is fourteen years after St. Peter according to the same Eusebius 12. The next year after St. Peter came to Rome which was the third year of Claudius his Reign there began to be such War in Britanny as the Emperor himself resolved to go in person thither and so he did with admiration of the whole world And if there were any Christians in Rome at that time as it is likely there were the Christian Faith having been now preached in the world some dozen years after Christ's Ascension it is very probable that some went with him into Britanny and that this was the first sparkle of planting Christian Faith and Religion in those Countries but much more afterward as their number increased seeing that this War continued for forty years together that is to say to the fourth year of Domitian when as well extern Histories as our William of Malmsbury to omit other Heathen Writers doth teach That Britanny was wholly subdu'd and brought into a perfect form of Province And in this time there being continual going and coming from Rome to Britanny and Christian Religion every day increasing in Rome the same could not choose but be kindled also in Britanny especially for two or three Considerations First for that there were many Britans inhabiting in Rome at that day some for Hostages some for their own Pleasures thereby to fly the Wars and unquiet state of their own Country others taken and carried by force as Caractacus Sylurum Rex Caractacus King of the Sylures who inhabited that part of Britanny which at this day we call South-Wales who being taken was sent to Rome by Ostorius Governor of that Country for Claudius the Emperor in the 11th year of his Empire and much Nobility with him as Tacitus in his Story doth relate 13. Some also both Romans and of other Nations being Christened and flying the Persecution which was in Rome against such Men especially under Nero got themselves into Britanny as a place of more liberty and less subject to Examinations in such matters by reason of the Wars and Tumults there And this is conform to that which Gildas the ancient Britan writeth in his Complaint of the Overthrow of Britanny
where having declared the extreme Calamity come upon his Country-men by that War and Victory of the Romans against them under Claudius addeth presently these words Interea glaciali frigore rigenti Insulae c. In the mean space while these Wars lasted there appeared and imparted it self to this cold Island removed further off from the visible Sun than other Countries that true and invisible Sun which in the time of Tiberius Caesar had shewed it self to the whole World I mean Christ vouchsafed to impart his Precepts c. 14. This is the sum and true sense of his Sentence tho' the words be somewhat intricate and his stile obscure which Sir Francis understanding not citeth this place of Gildas as before you have heard to prove that Britanny received the Gospel under Tiberius Caesar which he saith not nor is not likely as before hath been declared both in respect of the small time which Tiberius lived after the Apostles began to preach as also for that in those days there was no War in Britanny whereof Gildas speaketh immediately before 15. And thus much of the Time and Occasion whereby Christian Religion began first in Britany within the first fifty years after Christ's Ascension whereto also we may add the Testimony of Nicephorus and before him of Theodoretus and Sophronius ancient Writers who do testifie That Brittaniae Insulae c. The Britan Islands fell in division among the Apostles in their first partition which they made of the World. And it is most like that St. Peter being come to Rome to teach and convert the Western-parts of the World as Italy Spain and France by name these Islands also received the same benefit from him And so say our Authors whom afterwards I shall allege for his being in Britanny 16. And this is another point of Obligation betwixt England and Rome if Sir Francis can be content to hear it to wit that the first Bishop of Rome went in person to convert our Country as afterward we shall hear grave Authors affirm to whom I remit me Tho' who indeed were the very first Teachers in Britanny and Preachers in particular or Helpers thereunto is not so certain our ancient Historiographers by reason of the variety of Times and our Countries Calamities having left no clear Testimony thereof True it is that our later Writers of the English Nation namely Holinshed and Cambden do affirm That one Claudia Ruffina a Noble British Lady living then in Rome and being the Wife as they say of one Pudens a Roman Senator and Mother of the two famous Christian Virgins Praxedes and Pudentiana did send divers Books and Messages unto her Friends in Britanny and thereby helped much to their Conversion And this may appear say they as well by the Salutation sent from her by St. Paul's Pen to Timothy when he said Eubulus Pudens Linus Claudia and all the Brethren do salute you as also for that she was the first Hostess or Harbourer of St. Peter and St. Paul at their coming to Rome it may be conjectur'd that she was one of the first Christians of the City Whereof it may be inferred that if it be true that she sent those first Messages Books or Messengers of Christian Knowledge into her Country she was also the first or one of the first Helpers to that Conversion 17. But now the proofs of this mater are not so strong as I could wish or desire for the Honor of our Country but let us hear them as they be First the proof that she was a Britain is by certain Verses of Martial the Poet written unto her in his Epigrams thus Claudia caeruleis cùm sit Ruffina Britannis Edita cur Latiae pectora plebis habet Whereas Claudia Ruffina is born of the Britans that paint themselves how cometh it to pass that she hath gained so much the good wills of the Italian People And then he goeth forward to praise her also for her Beauty exceeding the Beauty either of Italians or Grecians He commendeth her besides for three Children which she had born to her Husband and these Children our men would interpret to be the foresaid two Virgins Praxedes and Pudentiana together with Novatus their Brother all Children of Pudens the Senator above-named 18. But altho' I could wish much as I said for the Honor of our Nation that this thing were true especially her being the Wife to Pudens and Mother of the foresaid Children that were all Saints yet have I great Arguments to the contrary Whereof the first is the silence of all Antiquity in this behalf Martial also being a Heathen and Enemy to Christians would hardly have commended her so much and written Epigrams to her of her rare Beauty if she had been a Christian which was the most odious thing that might be in those days nor could she be so Beautiful in his time living under Vespasian and Titus and dying under Trajan during whose Reign it appeareth in Martial that these Verses were written for so much as she must needs be very old in those days seeing that Pudens his House placed in declivo Montis Scauri in the side of the Hill called Scaurus was the first by Tradition of all Antiquity that received St. Peter and afterward St. Paul in Rome and is at this day a Church dedicated to his Daughter St. Pudentiana and from the arrival of St. Peter to Rome until the time of Trajan were almost sixty years So as if she were Wife of Pudens and Mother of those Children when St. Peter came to Rome she must needs be very aged when Martial wrote those Verses of her Beauty Besides this our own Bede Ado Archbishop of Trevers Usuardus and other ancient Authors in their Martyrologies do assign another Wife unto Pudens the Senator as Mother to the foresaid three Children whose Name was Sabinella so that tho' it be true that there was such a British Lady named Claudia Ruffina in Rome commended by Martial under Trajan and that St. Paul did commend another Claudia and Pudens for Christian Religion in his second Epistle to Timothy all which is sufficiently proved yet that this Claudia Ruffina was the Claudia mentioned by St. Paul or that the same Ruffina was a Christian or Wife to Pudens or Mother of Praxedes and Pudentiana which are the principal Points whereof the matter dependeth This I say is not proved nor any part thereof but only huddl'd up by our later Heretical Writers under a shew of other Proofs to wit that there was such a Claudia that was of Britanny and another by St. Paul named which are impertinent Points to the Principal that should have been proved And hereby we see that Heretics are but slight Provers and very deceitful in all matters as well Historical as Doctrinal 19. Wherefore to let this pass and to speak of the first Ecclesiastical Teachers of Christian Religion in England who through the great
perturbation of Wars as hath been said were not so well known nor distinctly observed nor deliver'd to Writing in those days as otherwise they might have been yet find I some mention tho' dispersed of three several Apostles of Christ to have Preached there to wit St. Peter St. Paul and St. Simon of Chananee sirnamed the Zealous two Apostolical Men also in these first troubled Times to have been sent thither Aristobulus a Roman whom St. Paul named in his Epistle to the Romans and Joseph of Arimathea a Nobleman of Jury that buried Christ Of all which Five we shall speak somewhat in order 20. And first of St. Peter himself to have been in England or Britanny and Preached Founded Churches and Ordained Priests and Dencons therein is recorded out of Greek Antiquities by Simeon Metaphrastes a Grecian And it seemeth to be somewhat confirmed by that which Innocentius I. Bishop of Rome hath left written above 1200 years agone saying That the first Churches of Italy France Spain Africa Sicilia and the Islands that lie betwixt them were founded by St. Peter or his Scholars or Successors For which cause Gulielmus Eysengrenius in his first Centuria or hundred years doth write also That the first Christian Churches of England were sounded by St. Peter under Nero. Whereunto it may be thought that the foresaid Gildas had relation when expostulating with the Britain Priests of his time for their Wickedness for which the Wrath of God had brought in the English Saxons upon them he objecteth among other things Quod sedem Petri Apostoli inverecundis pedibus usurpassent That they had usurped the Seat St. Peter with unshamefac'd feet meaning thereby either the whole Church of Britanny first founded by him or some particular place of Devotion or Church which he had erected And finally Alredus Rienuallus an English Abbot of the Order of Cisterce left written about 500 years agone a certain Revelation or Apparition of St. Peter to an holy man in the time of King Edward the Confessor shewing him how he had Preached himself in England and consequently the particular care he had of that Church and Nation c. 21. If any man ask What time it might be that St. Peter left Rome and went into Britanny and other Countries round about Cardinal Baronius a famous Learned Historiographer of our time thinketh that it was then when Claudius the Emperor banish'd all the Jews out of Rome as in the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded among whom it is like that St. Peter also being by Nation a Jew retired himself and took that occasion to go into divers Pagan Countries to preach the Faith of Christ that thing belonging especially to his Charge as Head of the Apostles according to his own words of himself Elegit Deus per os meum audire gentes verbum Evangelii credere God hath chosen and appointed that Gentiles shall hear and believe the Word of the Gospel by my mouth This then was the cause why he was so diligent and careful to go and preach every-where Christian Religion to the end he might fulfil and accomplish this Will and Ordination of his Master And this was one cause also to wit his absence from Rome why according to Baronius and other Learned Men St. Paul writing to the Romans did not name or salute him in his Epistle whereof our Heretics do brabble much And thus much of St. Peter 22. Of St. Paul's being in Britanny there are not so many particular Testimonies yet the foresaid Theodoretus doth affirm That from Rome he made certain Exoursions in Hispanias in Insulas quae in Mari jacent into Spain and the Islands lying in the Sea near about And in another place as the Magdeburgians do cite him he writeth expresly That St. Paul Preached to the Britains And the like hath Sophronius Bishop of Jerusalem in his Sermon of the Nativity of the Apostles Venantius also Fortunatus a most Learned and Holy. Man writing above a thousand years agone of St. Paul's Peregrination saith thus Transit Oceanum vel qua facit Insula portum Quasque Britannus habet terras atque ultima Thyle He pass'd over the Ocean-Sea to the Island that maketh a Haven on the other side even to the Lands which the Britains do possess c. For which respect Arnoldus Mirmannus in his Theatre of the Conversion of all Nations affirmeth St. Paul to have pass'd to Britanny in the fourth year of Nero Anno Domini 59 and there to have Preached and afterward to have returned again into Italy And so much of St. Paul who having twelve or thirteen years permitted him by Christ after his coming to Rome before his death for helping St. Peter and for assisting the West-parts of the World and St. Peter himself almost twice as much it is not unlike their Zeal being considered and the state of times weighed but that they made many Excursions as the former Authors do write And thus much of them 23. For the Preaching of the third Apostle Symon Chananaeus sirnamed the Zealous we have the Testimony of Nicephorus out of Greek Monuments to whom agreeth Dorotheus a very ancient Writer as also the Greek Martyrology as testifieth Baronius in his Annotations upon the Roman Martyrology And by this also we see that albeit St. Peter had undertaken to preach to the West-part of the World yet did other Apostles also help him therein as St. Paul in Italy and Spain and this Symon in Britanny and other places and St. Philip in France c. 24. Of Aristobulus also St. Peter's Scholar do testifie in like manner the foresaid Authors Mirmannus Dorotheus Baronius out of the Greek Martyrology that he was sent by St. Peter into Britanny and there made a Bishop And that Aristobulus was a principal known Christian in Rome before St. Paul's arrival there it appeareth by the Epistle of the said Apostle to the Romans where he saluteth him in these words Salute those that be of the house of Aristobulus Nor is it read that ever this Aristobulus came back from Britanny to Italy again And this of him 25. Of Joseph of Arimathea his coming into France and his sending thence into Great Britanny either by St. Philip as some say who preached then in Gaul or as Others hold by St. Peter himself as he passed that way to and from Britanny and how he obtained a place to exercise an Eremitical Life for him and his ten Companions in the Island called Avallonia where Glastonbury after was builded albeit I find no very certain or ancient Writer to affirm it yet because our later Historiographers for two hundred years past or more do hold it have come down by Tradition and namely Johannes Capgravius a Learned Man of the Order of St. Dominick and others after him I do not mean to dispute the matter here but rather to admire and praise the Heavenly Providence and
Goodness of Almighty God who in these very first days of his Gospel procured for so remote an Island so excellent Spiritual Fathers Founders and Patrons both of contemplative and active Life in Christian Religion the first Four which I have named being all Preachers and this Fifth having come out of Jury unto Marsilia in France with St. Mary Magdalen and her Company and seen her extraordinary Austerity of Contemplative Life and Zeal of Solitude and doing Penance therein he began that kind of Life also in Britanny as our Writers do testifie and namely Cambden among others doth observe Solitariam vitam amplexi sunt c. ut severo vitae genere ad Crucem preferendam se exercerent Joseph and his Company did take upon them a solitary life that with more tranquility they might attend to holy Learning and with a severe kind of conversation exercise themselves to the bearing of Christ's Cross 26. And albeit John Fox out of whom Sir Francis hath stoln all that he saith in this matter and most of the rest that be Historical tho' suppressing his Name doth cavil upon this man's going into England making him first a Preacher and not an Eremite and then saying That he came not from Rome but out of Jury and France and consequently that the Church of Britanny is not the Daughter of the Church of Rome nor had not her first Birth or Institution from thence and yet St. Cyprian glorieth in that his Church of Carthage in Africa and all the other Churches under her in Mauritania and Numidia had received their first Institution of Christian Faith from Rome as from their Mother All the World may see that this is but a foolish and absurd Cavil of Fox for that albeit St. Joseph came not immediately from Rome nor was a Roman by Birth as none of the Apostles were yet he taught in England the Roman Faith that is to say the same Faith that St. Peter and St. Paul and Aristobulus that came immediately from Rome had taught before him or did teach jointly with him in Britanny Of which Roman Faith St. Paul had written to the Romans themselves before the going of St Joseph into Britanny Fides vestra annuntiatur in universo mundo Your Faith is preached and divulged throughout the whole World signifying That the Christian Faith planted in Rome by St. Peter was derived already for a Platform into all other parts of the World round about For which cause Tertullian writing in Africa said That the Authority of his Church came from Rome Vnde nobis quoque authorit as praesto est saith he And St. Cyprian as before hath been noted called the Roman Church Matricem caeterarum omnium the Mother and Original Church of all other Churches And St. Innocentius also whose Holiness St. Augustin so much admired doth affirm That all Churches generally of the West-parts of the World were founded by St. Peter and his Disciples And St. Angustin himself had no better way to defend his Church of Hippo and other of those Countries to be truly Catholic against the Donatists than to say that they were Daughters and Children of the Church of Rome though some of them were very near as far off in distance of place as England at this day 27. Well then by this we see that the shift invented to deliver us from all Obligation to the See of Rome for our two Conversions under Eleutherius and Gregory I. by saying that some had preached Christian Religion first in Britanny before these two public Conversions fell out is a foolish shift and diminisheth not our said Obligation but increaseth rather the same For if this first Preaching and first Faith taught in England by our first Preachers was the Roman Faith and deriv'd principally from the City and Church of Rome by the Preaching of St. Peter and St. Paul Aristobulus and others as hath been declared and if the very first Beams or Sparkles thereof before any Preachers perhaps were sent came by the access of some Roman Christians upon the Wars and other occasions which before hath been declared then all this rather multiplieth our Bonds to Rome than diminisheth the same And so instead of two Conversions from Rome whereof I spake in my Ward-word now we find three And consequently a triple Obligation is come upon us for a double 28. And this shall suffice to the first Answer of Sir Francis or rather simple shift by which he would avoid our Obligation to Rome persuading us that our first Preachers came not from thence but from Asia and the East Church Of which Argument though I have said more here than I meant to have done yet for that Sir Francis and all other Heretics of our time for hatred to Rome do seek certain Reasons or rather foolish Conjectures to prove the same I shall be forced to say somewhat more thereof in the Chapter following CHAP. II. An Answer to certain Cavillations Lies and Falsifications of Sir Francis and his Masters Fox and the Magdeburgians about the first Preaching of Christian Religion in Britanny ALbeit the fond heretical wrangling before rehearsed against Rome deserveth not so large a Confutation as I have already bestowed thereon especially in so clear a matter as are the manifold benefits which our Island hath received from the See of Rome yet for that it seems to be a general Conspiracy of all Heretics of our time as well Lutherans as Zwinglians Calvinists and Puritans to take from Rome if they could all the merit of bringing Christian Faith into our Country I am forced in this place to stand longer upon the matter than otherwise I would for that there followeth also another Consequence hereof of no small moment which St. Irenaeus Tertullian St. Cyprian St. Augustin and others are wont to urge greatly against Heretics to wit That if our Church be the Daughter and Disciple of the Church of Rome then ought it to run unto her in all doubts and difficulties of matters of Faith. Wherefore we shall briefly discuss the truth of this Affair 2. Besides the Proofs set down in the former Chapter how the chief of our first Preachers came from Rome immediately as St. Peter St. Paul and St. Aristobulus and that the other as St. Symon of Chananae and St. Joseph of Arimathea if they did not come from Rome yet preached the Roman Faith conform to the Preachings of St. Peter and St. Paul there remain two other Conjectures also very probable to the same effect to prove that St. Joseph was specially directed into Britanny by the same Apostles The first is for that King Inas above 900 years past when he laid the Foundation of Glastonbury-Abby in memory of St. Joseph and his Fellows that had lived a solitary Life there he caused these Verses to be written in the Church as Cambden and others testifie Anglia plande lubens mittit tibi Roma salutem Fulgor Apostolicus
Glasconiam irradiat Be glad England for that Rome sendeth Health to thee and Apostolical Brightness doth lighten Glastonbury Which could not well be spoken if the coming of these Saints and first Inhabiters there had not some relation to Rome and to the Apostles that sent them 3. Moreover I find in the ancient Chronicles of the Helvetians and sundry Authors as B. Rhenanus in his Story of Germany yea and Pantaleon an Heretic and others do testifie That one Suetonius a Nobleman's Son of Britanny being converted in Britanny by such Christians as first planted the Faith there and called after his Baptism Beatus was sent by them to Rome to St. Peter Apostolorum Corypheo as the Story saith that is to the chief Head of the Apostles to be better instructed and confirmed who returning backward again from Rome towards Britanny through Switzerland found such flocking of People unto him and such propension to Christian Religion as he stay'd continually among them and built himself an Oratory to exercise a Monastical Life there near unto a Town called in their Language Vndersewen not far from the Lake of Than where he dy'd about the year of Christ 110. And for that this man apply'd himself to a Monastical Life and brought the same purpose with him out of Britanny as it seemeth the conjecture is not improbable but that he was converted and sent to Rome to St. Peter by St. Joseph and his Fellows that followed the same Life in Britanny and that they had particular correspondence with the said Apostle in that behalf 4. And thus much being added for confirmation of that which was said and discussed in rhe former Chapter about the first Preaching and Receiving of the Faith in Britanny there remaineth now that we see the Objections which Sir Francis and his Men and Masters do bring against this to prove that the first Teachers of Christian Faith in Britanny were rather Grecians and of the East Church in Asia than of the West Roman Church For which Assertion having no Author at all that ever wrote thereof nor any man living or dead that hitherto ever affirmed it beside themselves or before Luther's days they are forced to build their whole imagination I mean Sir Francis and his Master Sir John Fox and Fox his Masters again Illyricus Vigandus Judex and Faber that make the Quadrillio or Round-Table of the Magdeburgtans in Saxony upon this bare Conjecture and fond Inference That for so much as in Bede's time some in Britanny observed the day of Easter after the fashion of some East Churches for all did not so use it therefore it was like that the first Preachers of that Island came not from Rome which these men cannot abide to hear but from the East as though forsooth this abuse might not have entred after those first Preachers though they had come from Rome But let us hear their words about this matter 5. First Sir Francis writeth thus Bede our Country-man doth testifie that in his time this Land kept Easter after the manner of the East Church by which may be gathered that the first Preachers came hither from the East-parts of the World and not from Rome Mark I pray you the Knight's good gathering Might not a man as well argue thus That divers Reliques of the Pelagian or other ancient Heresies were found in some parts of Britanny in Bede's time Ergo The first Preachers in Britanny were Pelagians or other Heretics But let us hear John Fox who taught Sir Francis this Argument though the other were not so grateful a Scholar as to name him I take saith he the Testimony of Bede where he affirmeth that in his time and almost a thousand years after Christ here in Britanny Easter was kept after the manner of the East Church in the Full of the Moon what day of the Week soever it fell on and not on the Sunday as we do now whereby it is to be collected that the first Preachers in this Land have come out from the East-part of the World where it was so used rather than from Rome 6. Here you see the Argument more fully set down and the same foolish Collection made that was before For except it could be proved that this Error of keeping Easter-day with the Jews had begun and endured in Britanny from the Apostles time downward which cannot be shewed but rather the contrary is certain as after you shall hear this Collection is not worth a rush And it is to be noted by the way that as Fox cannot tell any Tale lightly without some notorious Lye so here be two very manifest The first that St. Bede affirmeth this Custom of keeping Easter with the Jews to have been here in Britanny in his time as though all Britanny had used it whereas in divers places he doth attribute the same to the Scots that dwelt in the Island of Ireland principally as also to some of them that dwelt in Britanny and to some Britans themselves but all the English Church was free from it So as John Fox his Speech of Britanny in general is both false and fraudulent But the other clause That St. Bede testifieth this for almost 1000 years after Christ is foolish and impudent seeing it is notorious that St. Bede dy'd in the year 735 which is almost 300 years short of Fox his Account and consequently could not testifie a thing so long after his death But this the Reynard juggleth to make St. Bede seem to be a late Writer whom they cannot abide for that he setteth down the Beginning and Progress of our Church far different from theirs 7. But I think good to put down also the words of the Magdeburgians about this matter out of whom Fox took his Argument and the Knight of the Fox to the end it may appear how one Heretic teacheth another though of different Sects to cavil lye and cogg and do agree all in one Spirit of Malignity though they differ in Opinions Thus then these Captain Lutherans do write of this matter in their famous lying and deceitful Centurial Story Quis fuerit qui primùm in Britannia Evangelium docuer it c. Who was the first that taught the Gospel in Britanny is not clear the thing that seemeth nearest to the Truth is that the British Church was planted at the beginning by Grecian Teachers and such as came from the East and not by Romans or other of the west-West-Church And to this we are moved by two Conjectures First That Peter Abbot of Cluniack writing to St. Bernard saith That the Scots in his time were wont in old time to celebrate Easter-day after the manner of the Grecians and not of the Romans And secondly for that Geffry the Cardinal who lived about the year of Christ 700 doth testifie in his Story of Britanny lib. 8. cap. 4. That the Britans would in no wise admit the younger Augustin Legat of Gregory the Great
neither acknowledge any Primacy of the Bishop of Rome over them which is another clear sign that Religion was not planted there by Romans And albeit Pope Innocentius I. in his Epistle distinctione 12. doth affirm on the contrary side that all the Occidental Churches and those of Africa were founded by Peter or by his Disciples or Successors yet we judge that to have been spoken by him rather of desire of a little Vain-glory or of Temporal Power than for that the Truth is so or may be proved out of Stories 8. Thus our Magdeburgenses whose words I have caused to be noted more at length by that they require some consideration and that by these sew the Reader may judge of the quality of that whole huge lying story of theirs which our Fox hath followed in his Acts and Monuments with above 10000 false Additions of his own and I speak far within number when I say 10000. But let us return to our present Story 9. First whereas they say That to them it seemeth nearest to the Truth That Grecians and other of the East-Church and not of the West-Church were the first Preachers in Britanny it must either be very imprudently spoken against their own Conscience if they have read that which I before have set down out of divers Authors they having no one Author in the World of their own side that ever wrote so or signified so before themselves or if they have not read these Authors alledged then it is great Presumption in them to take upon them to write so Universal an History of all Matters Times and Nations as they profess without procuring first to read the ancient Authors and Writers thereof about common and vulgar things at least But hatred and malice to Rome doth make them blind and so rather to run into all kind of Absurdities than to yield any Praise or commendable thing to Rome or to the Bishops thereof But let us go forward to examin more particulars for there are store in this little Story or Relation about Britanny 10. Their first Conjecture or Argument why Britanny was converted by Grecians and not by Romans is as you have heard for that Petrus Cluniacensis writeth Scotos Graeco more suo tempore solitos olim Pascha celebrare That the Scots in his time were accustomed in old time to celebrate Easter day after the manner of the Grecians What sense hath this The Scots in His Time did celebrate in Old Time. What sense I say or construction can this have I confess that some Scots of old time especially in Ireland and Orcades as divers Britans also did hold the Asian Custom of celebrating the Easter together with the Jews And this needed not to be prov'd by so late an Author as Cluniacensis for that St. Bede 300 years before Petrus Cluniacensis doth testifie the same in divers places of his Works Albeit how the Scots in Cluniacensis his time did as these men say celebrate in old time Easter with the Grecians the Greek Church at that time being not different in this point from the Roman though some in Asia minor were this cannot be understood by any reasonable man. And it may be it was written after Dinner by these good Germans when they had drunk hard and so I leave it to their own Explication though in what sense soever they speak it or it may be understood a most fond Conjecture it is for that which they pretend as we have shewed to wit that the first Preachers of Britanny came from the East 11. About the second Conjecture upon the words of Geffry of Monmouth whom they call Geffry the Cardinal there are as many more unlearned and malicious Escapes to be noted For first he was never Cardinal in his life as all our Histories do make it plain but first a Monk then Archdeacon of Monmouth then preferred by King Stephen to the Bishoprick of St. Asaph in North-Wales in the year of Christ 1152 as both Matthew Paris and Matthew of Westminster do affirm in their several Histories handling that year Neither did any man to our knowledge ever call him Cardinal but only a certain Venetian School-master named Ponticus Virunnius who living almost a hundred years agone translated some part of this Geffry's British History or rather contracted the same into an Epitome for the pleasure of a certain Noble Family in Venice who in old time had come out of Britanny And this man either of Error or Flattery to that Family or both calleth him Cardinal forsooth against the clear Testimony of all others that lived with him as soon after his Death did the foresaid Matthew Paris and Guil. Neobrigensis long before this other late Venetian Schoolmaster 12. And of this our Magdeburgians could not be ignorant though they would needs make Geffry of Monmouth a Cardinal also for that in some things he sheweth himself to favor the old Britans against St. Augustin that came from Rome Neither could they be ignorant also of the time wherein Geffry lived except they will confess themselves to be very unskilful and gross Companions indeed seeing so many Authors do testifie the same to wit in the year of Christ 1152 in which year he was made Bishop of St. Asaph and lived divers years after So as our German Heretics appointing him for his more credit to have lived in the year of Christ 700 do add of their own benevolence to his Antiquity 450 years which is somewhat more than Fox took from St. Bede a little before to discredit him and make him seem a young Author And these Confederates do proceed so ridiculously in this kind of Cozenage as the one affirming St. Bede to have lived 1000 years after Christ and the other that Geffry of Monmouth lived 700 they come between them both to make the said Geffry to be 300 years elder than St. Bede whereas he was indeed 450 years younger the difference is in all 750 years And this is not of Error as hath been shewed and is most plain but of Envy desiring to prefer Geffry that seemeth to favour them sometimes in his Narrations about St. Augustin and to put back St. Bede that is every where and wholly against them And if you find this juggling in so small and short a matter as this is imagin what passeth in their whole Volumes I mean both of Fox and the Magdeburgians as before I have noted And thus much of the Title and Time of Geffry of Monmouth Now let us come to his Words and Assertions 13. First in his sixth Book and fourth Chapter quoted by our Magdeburgians there is no such matter handled at all as they mention concerning the Strife between the Britans and St. Augustin nor in the next two Books following nor in all the four Chapters of any of the rest But in the eleventh Book and seventh Chapter talking of the coming of the foresaid Augustin into England he writeth thus IntereÃ
it is probable that this Custom came in among the Britans Whereunto I answer First for the Britans that some are of opinion it was brought into Britanny it self by Pelagius the Heretic or some of his Followers about the year of Christ 420 who being a Britan born and a Monk as some think of the famous Monastery of Bangor travelled into Italy first and then into Sicilia Aegypt and other East-parts of the World to learn and study as he professed and by that profession of Hypocrisie he crept into many Learned and Godly mens special Love and Friendship and above others he entred with St. Paulinus Bishop of Nola and by him with St. Augustin But afterward being discovered by St. Hierom to have taught Heresies in secret together with his Fellow and Disciple Celestius who by the description made of him by St. Hierom may seem to have been a Scottish-man for he saith Habet enim progeniem Scoticae gentis de Britannorum vicinia for he hath his Off-spring from the Scottish Nation near to the Britans wherefore these two men being now discovered to be Heretics and condemned by Innocentius I. and by divers Synods are said for very shame to have retired into Britanny and being deadly Enemies to the Pope and Church of Rome that had condemned them and considering that the Eastern Custom of celebrating Easter was opposite to the same Church and yet defended by many it is thought probable enough that they might bring in the same Wherewith doth seem to concur somewhat the words of Hermannus Contractus a Chronicler that wrote above 500 years ago who writing of the year of Christ 630 saith His temporibus Haeresis de Paschate Pelagiana Britanniam turbat In these days the Heresie about the celebrating of Easter and the Pelagian did much trouble Britanny By which words it seemeth that he would signifie that these two Heresies grew to be all one in England and consequently like to be brought in by the selt-same men 11. But yet all this notwithstanding it seemeth much more probable according to St. Bede's History and the Reasons before-alleged that this Use of Easter came not in with Pelagius but long after for that St. German and St. Lupus and others made no mention thereof but especially for that the Writings of the Popes Honorius and John IV. to the Scottish Nation and Bishops before-mentioned say That this Custom of Easter was newly sprung up in their days It seemeth more probable I say that this Custom was imparted to the Britans by the said Scottish Nation and namely by those that dwelt as hath been said in Ireland or in the Islands of Hebrides But how they themselves gat it is not so certain yet the most probable seemeth that either some of them travelling into the East-Countries or others of those East-Countries coming to them brought the Observation thereof For albeit ever after that the same was condemned by Pope Victor and the Truth established by the Council of Nice the whole Western Church yea also as Constantine saith the far greater part of all East held the Roman Use yet was not the contrary so extinguished but that divers Churches of Asia minor did hold and practise the same for a long time especially certain Heretics as the Novatians Montanists Priscillianists Sabbatians and others that seemed of the Devouter sort and therewith deceived many simple people pretending that this Use was more pious than the other as being founded in the express words of Scriptures of the Old Testament and confirmed by the Example of Christ himself who made his Easter together with the Jews upon the fourteenth day of the Moon of March as appeareth by the Evangelists 12. For these I say and other like reason it seemeth according to St. Bede that the simple and rude Irish and Scottish Christians as there he called them falling upon the Use of this Custom did like better of it than of the Roman which required more exact Calculation and Observation of Times and Days as before hath been touched and as appeareth by that which Nicephorus writeth that the old Calculation of Easter according to the Roman Use to wit that it should be upon the first Sunday after the Full Moon of March was so hard to be observed oftentimes as some learned men of Aegypt were appointed in Alexandria to calculate every year the same before-hand that the Patriarch of that Church had care to send it abroad to other parts of the World for their Instruction and direction therein which Office of calculating Easter-day was exercised for divers years in Alexandria by one Theophilus a Priest of that Church who afterward coming to be Patriach wrote divers Paschal Epistles in Greek for direction of finding out the true day of Easter which Epistles were translated by St. Hierom in the year of Christ 404. And after the said Theophilus made a Cyclus or Calculation to serve for 100 years together as appeareth by St. Leo the Pope in his Epistle to the Emperor Martian All which Observations and Directions being hard for men so far distant as Ireland and Scotland was from Alexandria to know and keep it is like that they followed rather the other which was more plain and easie 13. And this is insinuated before by St. Bede when he saith that St. Wilfrid objected to B. Colman that his Ancestors observed this Rustica simplicitate by a kind of rude simplicity and added further that no learned Calculator of Times had ever arrived unto them And if any man will know the Reasons of the difficulties that were in this Ecclesiastical Roman Account or Computation for celebrating Easter upon the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the Moon of March let him read the foresaid Paschal Epistles of Theophilus as also the learned Discourse of Anatolius Bishop of Laodicea written about forty years before the Council of Nice part whereof is set down by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History St. Augustin also in his Answers to the Questions of Januarius shewing the reasons why the Church of Christ would not have the Feast of Easter to be stable and firm as that of his Nativity Circumcision and some other Feasts are but rather to follow the motion of the Sun and Moon for divers Mysteries therein contained doth touch divers points of the foresaid difficulties But the principal grounds that make the matter hard to the common sort are first the inequality between Annus Solaris and Annus Lunaris that is to say the Year according to the course of the Sun and according to the course of the Moon the Church using the second and not the first And the difference between them standing in the odds of eleven days for equalling whereof serveth the Rule of the Epact answerable to the Cycle of the Golden Number consisting of 19 years Revolution for observing the beginnings and Full Moons that fall out in every year seeing
c. In the end Wilfrid in his Disputation prevailed by his Impostures having bewitched the two Kings that were present King Oswyn and King Egfrid Did you ever hear a more shameless tongue But this he wrote of St. Wilfrid Obiter and by the way in the Narration he maketh of B. Colman But when he cometh to talk of him in particular and severally he is far more bitter and impudent against him telling us first how that after Wilfrid had been in France Italy and Rome to study and there learned the Mathematical Calculations of times out of the Gospels Reversus in Patriam Romanas Consuetudines contra Quartadecimanos sic enim pios homines tunc derisorié vocabant disceptationibus in Synodo publicis defendebat gerebatque circa collum reliquiarum quas Roma tulerat capsulam quandam c. Et Archiepiscopus denique ob haec his similia constitutus bis infra spatium 45 annorum non ob Regum insolentiam ut Polidorus immodesté scribit sed ob suam temeritatem imò malitiam atque neguitias plures Archiepiscopatu pulsus est longo tandem confectus senio periit Anno Christi 710. He returning from Rome to his Country did defend by public Disputations in a Synod the Roman Customs against these men who being Pious and Godly were called scoffingly in those days Quartadecimans he carried about his Neck a certain Box of Saints Reliques which he brought with him from Rome And being for these and other like things made Archbishop he was driven out twice within 45 years from his Archbishopric and this not by the Insolency of the Kings that drave him out as Polidor doth immodestly write but rather for his own Rashness yea Malice and many Wickednesses c. And so at length being consumed with Old Age he perished in the year of Christ 710. 19. Behold here a Narration worthy the Spirit of a new Gospeller and old Apostata against so Venerable and Worthy a Pillar of our Primitive English Church as was St. Wilfrid Mark how he is tax'd for travelling and studying at Rome for defending by public Disputations the Roman Custom of celebrating Easter which yet was defended and decreed openly by the General Council of Nice as before you have heard and after shall be proved for bearing a Box of Reliques about his Neck brought from Rome which no doubt is one of the things that most troubleth the Spirit of John Bale as it did the Devils and wicked Spirits in England who cry'd and were cast out by the same as you may read in them that write his Life 20. Moreover he saith That for his own Wickedness he was driven out of his Archbishopric and so finally perished in the year 710. As for his perishing if he perished that lived so austere a Religious Life converted so many thousand English Heathens to Christian Faith wrought so many Miracles as are recorded of him then woe to Us that cannot imitate so great Holiness and woe to John Bale that ran out of Religion and being a Fryer took a Wench named Faithful Dorothy and that as himself braggeth Neque ab homine neque per hominem sed ex speciali Christi dono Neither from man nor by man but by the special Gift of Christ as tho' Christ did use to divide such Gifts to Fryers that had vowed Chastity And how good a Fellow he became afterward and how pleasant a Companion you may understand by his own words when writing of his Works he saith Facetias jocos sine certo numero feci I have written Jests and Pastimes without any certain number a fit Argument for a new Gospelling Fryer But yet how far this exercise of Jesting was from the Gravity and Holiness of St. Wilfrid no man can doubt And so himself miserable man may be thought to have perished while the other reigneth eternally in Heaven 21. And as for Refutation of the horrible Slander That for his Wickedness St. Wilfrid was driven out of his Archbishopric I have no better means present than to oppose against this lying Apostata the Universal Consent of all Antiquity especially those that wrote his Life as St. Bede and after him Hedius Odo Fridegenus Petrus Blesensis and others who have written both his Life and Death as of a great Saint and his Memory and Festival Celebration is held throughout the Universal Church upon the 12th day of October as all Martyrologies do testifie And thus much of the Insolency of John Bale against the person of St. Wilfrid 22. But now whereas further he is not ashamed to defend the Jewish Custom and the Quartadecimans condemned for it saying That they were pious men and were called by the nickname of Quartadecimans for a scoff only I am forced to deal further therein and to shew him first to be an Heretical and most shameless Calumniator for that the name of Quartadecimani or Quatuordecimani signifying those that observe the fourteenth day of the Moon of March to celebrate Easter is an old name appointed to those that held that Heretical Use for many Ages agone as may appear by St. Epiphanius that wrote 1200 years agone whose words are these Emersit rursus mundo alia Haeresis Tesseradecatitarum appellata quos Quartadecimanos quidam appellant There is another Heresie sprung up in the World of some that are called in Greek Tesseradecatites which others in Latin do call Quartadecimans c. The Explication of which words St. Augustin after him in his Book of Heresies written to Quod-vult-Deus doth set down thus Hinc appellati sunt quòd non nisi quartadecima Luna mense Martio Pascha celebrant These People are called by the Greek words Tesseradecatites and by the Latin Quartadecimans for that they do celebrate Easter upon the fourteenth day of the Moon of March. Unde etiam Quartadecimani cognominati sunt saith Nicephorus lib. 4. Histor cap. 36. for which cause they are called also Quartadecimans 23. And yet further the same men were called also by a third name of Paschatites as appeareth both by St. Philastrius Bishop of Brixia somewhat before St. Epiphanius who in his Catalogue of Heresies numbring up these Paschatites yieldeth the reason of their name in these words Qui asserunt quartadecima Luna celebrandum esse Pascha non autem sicuti Ecclesia Catholica celebrat Who affirm that Easter-day is to be celebrated upon the fourteenth of the Month of March upon whatsoever day it shall fall out and not as the Catholic Church doth accustom to expect the Sunday 24. Well then we see that St. Wilfrid and other Roman Catholics of his time did not invent the name of Quartadecimani for a scoff to disgrace godly men thereby as ungodly John Bale blusheth not to avouch but that it is an old name invented and appointed by the Universal Primitive Church to them that defended obstinatly the Jewish Custom of celebrating Easter-day strictly upon the
in the second Age after Christ there was not the Faith in Rome that now is For that there was no mention or knowledge then either of any universal Authority of the Church or Bishop of Rome or of the name or use of Masses or Sacrifice propitiatory or of Transubstantiation or of Images used in Churches and the like 5. To which vain Arguments of both these poor Men I might answer sufficiently by telling them if they will learn that albeit it were true in some sence that these Doctrins which here they alledge and some other in Controversie between us were not found in the Second Age when Pope Eleutherius lived so expresly set forth as in other Ages afterward when better Occasion was offered and the Times did more permit the same yet is this no good Argument to prove that they were not believed then also in the Catholic Church For if this Consequence should be admitted then as well might it be admitted also against many other principal Points and Articles of our Faith which are acknowledged and believed by Protestants also at this day tho not expresly handled discussed or determined in those first two hundred Years after Christ as for Example the Name and Doctrin of the Blessed Trinity the two distinct Natures and one Person in Christ his two distinct wills the Virginity of our Blessed Lady both before and after her Child-birth the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost as well from the Son as from the Father c. 6. All which Points and some others are not found to be handled so clearly and distinctly by Authors of the first two hundred Years as afterward partly for that they were occupied in other matters against Gentiles and Hereticks that touched not these Points and partly for that General Councils could not yet be gathered together to discuss and declare them distinctly tho no good Christians will or may doubt but that they were believed in the Church before from Christ downward and that the General Councils that determined them afterward for Articles of true Belief against Heretics that had called them in question did not so determine them as if they had made them Articles which were not before for this the Church could not do as is held by all Catholics but only that they being Articles of True and Catholic Belief before the Church did now declare them to be such Wherefore this being so I might answer and I see not how they could reply that John Fox and his Scholar may as well deny and call in question all or any of these foresaid Articles as the other which they recite For that they were as little or perhaps less specified in the first two hundred Years than these which they object 7. But I will deal more liberally with our Minister and Knight and will seek to satisfie them with Reason who do brabble and argue against us without Reason I shall endeavour to do the same by two ways hoping to make their Folly appear to every indifferent Man by them both The first shall be via negativa the negative way by putting them to some proof And the second shall be affirmative shewing them what Proofs may be brought for our side Nothing doubting but that each shall be sufficient to satisfie the equal Reader Let the first kind of Argument then by the way of negative be this 8. We deny that the Faith now held in Rome and namely the Articles here mentioned of the Pope Mass Transubstantiation and use of Images were not believed in Pope Eleutherius's days as now for the substance of the Doctrin And let them prove it if they can and if they say that it is hard to prove a negative we are content that they prove only an affirmative whereby the said negative may be inferred to wit that any one of these Doctrins did begin to enter into the Church after Eleutherius And to this Proof they are bound in all equity and reason as we shall shew by our sequent Discourse For if it be true that the Articles and Points of Doctrin here mentioned by Fox and Sir Francis wherein they differ from us be indeed not things heard of or believed at Rome in the time of Pope Eleutherius which yet they denie not but that in other Ages after they were generally received then followeth it that Fox and his Fellows must shew the Time Place Men and Occasion of their beginning to wit when where and by what Men and upon what Causes and with what Authority or Induction or Violence or by what Deceit or with what Contradiction of others these Doctrins entred first and were continued in the Church All which Points we can shew of every other Error or Heresie that hath risen and was held for such from Christ's Time to ours 9. And if either Fox or his Cub or any of that Kennel can or will shew this and joyn issue with us upon this one Point we do accept thereof and the matter may be quickly dispatch'd But if this cannot be done then must we follow the Rule of St. Augustin held by him for infallible in such Affairs to wit That when any Doctrin is found generally received in the known visible Churh at any Time or in any Age whereof there is no certain Author Time or Beginning found then is it sure that all such Doctrin hath come down from Christ and his Apostles 10. This doth that holy Doctor and great Pillar of Gods Church Saint Augustin affirm and reiterate in every place of his Works against Heretics of his Time which argued as our Men do by denying only and putting Catholics to Proof As for Example against the Donatists denying the custom of baptizing Infants for that it was not in Scripture nor recorded by Fathers of the first Ages Saint Augustin answereth thus Illa consuetudo quam tunc homines sursum versum aspicientes non videbant à posterioribus institutam rectè ab Apostolis tradita creditur That Custom of Baptizing Infants which Men before us in the Church looking upward to Antiquity did not find to have been ordained by them that came after the first Ages is rightly believed to have been delivered by the Apostles 11. And again in another place speaking of Ecclesiastical Customs he saith Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi anthoritate Apostolica traditum rectissimè creditur That which the universal Church doth hold and was not instituted by any Council but hath been still retained in the Church this we may most justly believe to have come from no other Authority than from the Apostles And the like Speeches unto this hath St. Augustin in divers other places both of this Book against the Donatists as l. 2. c. 7. and l. 5. c. 23. as also lib. de Vnitat Ecclesiae c. 19. Epistola 118 c. And as for that he speaketh of Institution by Councils he
meaneth of Customs and Ceremonies and not of Articles of Belief Which no Council can appoint but only declare and expound as before we have shewed 12. This Position then of St. Augustin is most true and consonant to the Doctrin of all other Fathers in that behalf that when any thing is found generally received in the Church and no Author Institutor or Beginning can be found thereof this without all doubt cometh down from the Apostles And of this position may be alledged two infallible grounds The one of Faith the other of evident Reasons For in Faith who can think so basely of Christs Power or Will in performing his Promises made unto his Church to conserve her in all Truth unto the Worlds end as that he should permit her notwithstanding to admit or teach generally any one false Article of Doctrin and much less so many as these men object against us For whereas he promised his Holy Spirit to be with her unto the Worlds end and that she should be the Pillar and Firmament of Truth to direct others and finally that hell gates should never prevail against her How should all this be performed if she fell into those Errors of which Protestants accuse her or what greater Victory could the gates of Hell have against her than that from an Apostolical Church of whom Christ spake she should become an Apostatical Church as these Men do call her which is the greatest Blasphemy against Christ and his Divinity that possibly can be imagined seeing it doth evacuate his whole Incarnation Life Death Doctrin Resurrection and other Benefits of his coming which were all imployed to this end to make unto himself a Church and Kingdom in this world that should direct Men in all Truth to their Salvation And this being taken away and the other granted that the Church her self may fall into Error and false Doctrin then is there no certainty in any thing And consequently it cannot be that any erroneous Doctrin should be taught or received generally by the Church And this is the first ground of St Augustin's Assertion 13. But besides this there is another founded in Reason and Experience which cannot be denied And for that it is a consideration of great Importance and may serve the Reader to many purposes of moment for discerning of Doubts and Controversies I shall desire him to be attent in perusing the same We do find by Experience and that not only in Ecclesiastical but Temporal Affairs also That when Orders Laws and Customs are once settled in any Common-wealth it is hard to alter or take them away or to bring in things opposite or different to them without some Resistance Dispute Contradiction or at least some Memory thereof how why and by whom it was done As for Example if a Man would go about to bring in any Innovation in the particular Laws of London and much more in the general Laws of all the Land no doubt but he should find some Resistance therein some that would dispute about the matter alledging Reasons to the contrary others would resist and oppose themselves and when all did fail at leastwise some Record Story or Memory would be left of this Change. 14. But much more if this matter did concern Religion which is most esteemed above other Points As for Example if a Man would begin to teach any Points of Doctrin at this Day in England contrary or different from that which is there received and established by public Authority he would presently be noted and contradicted by some no doubt as we see the Puritans Brownists Family of Love and other such newer Teachers have been and the History thereof is notorious and will remain to Posterity 15. And this is the very reason also why all Heretics and Heresies from the beginning did no sooner peep up in the visible Catholic Church but that they were noted impugned confuted and finally cast out from that body to the Devils dung-hill And the Records thereof do remain who were the Authors and Beginners who the Favourers and setters forward at what time upon what occasion under what Popes and Kings and other such-like Circumstances And this will endure to the end of the World. 16. This then being so we now come to the state of our Question and to joyn with the Protestants upon this Issue That seeing the Doctrins before mentioned of the Popes Authority Sacrifice of the Mass Transubstantiation Vse of Images and the like were found to be generally received and believed in the Visible and Universal Catholic Church of Christendom when Martin Luther first began to break from the same yea and many Ages before by their own confession they must shew us when the said Doctrins were brought in afterwards to the Church not being there nor believed therein before to wit by what Man or Men with what Authority Constraint or Persuasion with what repugnance of them that misliked the same and other like Circumstances before mentioned which if they be not able to do most certain it is that whatsoever they prattle against these Doctrins saying they were not in Eleutherius's time it is nothing but Cavils and Heretical Shifts 17. And now that they cannot shew any such particularities for the entrance or admittance of these Doctrins into the Church is most evident For whatsoever time they assign for their beginning we can still shew that before that time they were in use if they mean of the Things themselves and not only of Words or Phrases As for example when they object That in the Council of Lateran under Pope Innocentius III. in the year of Christ 1215. the word Transubstantiation was first used we answer That albeit that word was then added for better explication of the matter as these words Homousion Consubstantial Trinity and the like were by the first General Council of Nice yet the substance of the Article was held before from the beginning under other equivalent words of Change and Immutation of Natures Transformation of Elements and the like As for Example that of St. Ambrose speaking of the words of Christ in the Consecration Non valebit sermo Christi ut species mutet elementorum Shall not the words of Christ be of power to change the Natures of Elements And again Sermo Christi qui potuit de nihilo facere quod non erat non potest ea quae sunt in id mutare quod non erant The Speech of Christ that was able to create of nothing that which was not before shall it not be able to change things that are already into that which they were not before He meaneth the Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ as himself doth expound 18. So as here we see the change of the Natures of Elements and of the Substance of one Body into another averred by St. Ambrose long time before the Council of Lateran which is the same that we mean by Transubstantiation And
conform to this do speak also other ancient Fathers as well Greek as Latin and one thing is specially to be noted That both the Greek and Latin Church did agree therein in the said Council there being present two Patriarchs of the Greek Church to wit those of Constantinople and Hierusalem and others both Archbishops Bishops and Prelates So as of both Churches the Archbishops were 70 the Bishops 412 Abbots and Priors 800 and Prelates in all 1215 together with the Legats Doctors and Embassadors of both Empires West and East as also of the Kings of France Spain England Hierusalem and others So as this point of Doctrin about Transubstantiation was not hanled in corners but publicly and the Council doth not deliver the same as any New Doctrin but only as an Explication of That which ever had been held before 19. And the same is answered to the other-like Heretical Cavils about other points here objected by Fox and Sir Francis of an Vniversal Pope the use of the Mass and Propitiatory Sacrifice the setting up of dead Mens Images and the like For if they understand by the first the Primacy and Supreme Authority Ecclesiastical of the See of Rome and her Bishops and by the second the Christian external Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of our Savior instituted by himself as the Complement of all other Sacrifices that went before and by the third Sacred Memories and Images of Christ and his Saints that are not dead but living and reigning everlastingly in Heaven then are all these Doctrins howsoever disguised by Heretics with different words to make them more odious most true and Catholic Doctrins and received in the Church from the beginning and continued from the Apostles downward 20. And albeit these People to continue cavilling do alledge divers times that the first of these Articles about the Popes Supremacy did begin first under Pope Gregory the Great and Phocas the Emperor about the year of Christ 600 and that the last about the Vse of Images was decreed in the second General Council of Nice about the year 700 and that the other of the Use of Mass began by little and little they cannot tell when yet is this all most ridiculous and themselves dare not stand to any certain time by them assigned for that presently we appoint another time before that wherein these things were also acknowledged which they cannot do in the Heresies by us objected to them for that we shew indeed the very true time wherein they began and had their off-spring together with the proper Authors Places Occasions and other-like particularities recorded not by our selves but by other authentical Writers before us so as reasonably there can be no doubt thereof And herein stands the true difference between us We really and substantially shew the Beginning and Authors of their Heresies for that they are Heresies indeed but They cannot shew the Beginning or Author of any of our Articles of Belief since Christ and his Apostles for that they are no Heresies but Catholic Doctrins and have ever endured from Christ downward tho' in some Ages more than other they have been expounded or declared by Fathers and Councils according to the necessities of the time and this is one proper Office of the Holy Ghost appointed for Guider of the Church to explain matters as doubts do arise 21. Wherefore this is the first way of trial whether the foresaid Articles of the Roman Religion taught at this day about Transubstantiation Mass and the like be the same that Pope Eleutherius held and sent into Britanny or not And I do call all this kind of Argument Negative both in respect of our Adversaries that deny them to have been then in use and of Us that deny them to have been brought in afterward And they ought to prove the second seeing they cannot deny but that they were once generally in use and received over Christendom Whereof we do make the former most infallible Inference with St. Augustin That forasmuch as they were once in use and generally received and no particular beginning can be shewed of them or of their entrance Ergo They came from the Apostles themselves 22. To this Inference the Sectaries and Heretics of our time have one only shift more which is That albeit these Doctrins have for many Ages been received generally in the Church of Christendom yet that they crept into the same by little and little and finding no resistance began at last to be universally believed But this creeping Instance can have no place here by any probability For to say nothing of the Providence of God in protecting his Church from such creeping Errors nor yet of the Promises of Christ before-mentioned to the same effect Reason it self doth demonstrate also that this possibly could not be For if the Doctors and Fathers of the Church did note and discover from time to time every least Heresie or Error that did peep up in their days and this not only in Heretics but in divers principal Fathers also that held any particular Opinions as is manifest in St. Cyprian Lactantius Arnobius Cassianus and others If this diligence I say were used by them in all other occasions how could it happen that so many so manifest and so important Doctrins as are in controversie between Us and Protestants should be let pass without Note or Contradiction if they had been either New or Erroneous How should it come to pass I say that no one of these ancient Fathers should ever impugn any of these Doctrins if they were New Opinions and brought into the Church contrary to the Doctrin that was before as these men do say Yea how should it fall out that no one Record in the World should be left by our Ancestors that at such a time by such or such occasions began the Doctrin of Purgatory of Praying to Saints of the Real Presence of the Vse of Images of Mass and Sacrifice of seven Sacraments and the like that were not held in the Church before 23. And that this is impossible may be shewed by this experimental Deduction which now I will set down Let us imagin that none of these Doctrins were in the first Age under the Apostles and namely that then there were but two Sacraments no Purgatory at all or any External Sacrifice held We ask them concerning the second Age wherein Justinus Polycarpus Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus and Tertullian were chief Teachers whether these Doctrins were in this Age or no If they deny it tho' we might prove the contrary out of their Works yet not to pass from this first kind of Argument we ask the like of the third Age under Origen Cyprian Dionysius Alexandrinus Pamphilus Arnobius and the rest And if they deny of this Age also that these Doctrins were not held by them we go to the fourth Age under Athanasius Hilarius Optatus Basil Nazianzen Ambrose Hierom Chrysostom Epiphanius Cyrillus In whose Writings
every where there is mention of all these Doctrins as afterward in our second Argument we shall shew out of the Protestants themselves and namely the Magdeburgians that profess to note all 24. Now then I ask our Adversaries touching this creeping Instance how could these Doctrins so creep into the Catholic Visible Church in this fourth Age for example and be received so generally over all Nations Countreys and Kingdoms by these principal Lights Captains Watchmen and Guiders of the same as no Note Detection Resistance or Memory should be left of any Doubt Dispute or Opposition made against them Is this likely Is this possible Read all the Fathers Works over and find if you can but one place wherein one Father did ever hitherto note another for holding Purgatory Praying to Saints believing the Real Presence or the like as they did Cyprian tho' otherwise a most Learned and Holy Man for teaching Re-baptization of Heretics and some other Fathers for other particular Opinions different from the Catholic Doctrin of that Age. Whereof we may infer That they would have done the like also in these other points if they had been held for new or erroneous in those days And hereof also may be inferred another Sequel or Observation of very great moment against our Heretics That when soever any Doctrin is found in any of the ancient Fathers which is not contradicted nor noted by any of the rest as singular that Doctrin is to be presumed to be no particular Opinion of his but rather the general of all the Church in his days for that otherwise it would most certainly have been noted and impugned by others Whereby it followeth that one Doctor 's Opinion or Saying in matters of Controversie not contradicted or noted by others may sometimes give a sufficient Testimony of the whole Churches Sentence and Doctrin in those days which is a point very greatly to be considered 25. But yet further to all this may be added another Consideration of no small weight which is the difficulty of bringing in certain Doctrins if any man would have attempted it as for Example the Doctrin of Seven Sacraments If there had been but Two only before in the Apostles time it had been an extreme great Novelty to have added Five more which never would have been admitted without much strife and resistance seeing all Catholics do hold that Christ only could institute Sacraments for that He only could assure the Promise of Grace made thereunto as excellently doth declare the Council of Trent and long before that again the Master of Sentences and St. Thomas in the name of all Catholics did leave that Doctrin registred and there can be no doubt thereof 26. Wherefore this Truth being admitted That the whole Church hath no Authority to institute any Sacrament or to alter any thing about the substantial parts thereof to wit the Matter Form or Number as the same Council of Trent in another place declareth how was it possible that five whole Sacraments should be added or brought into Catholic Doctrin and received and believed throughout Christendom without any resistance or opposition at all if there had been but two only instituted by Christ and exercised by the Apostles in the first Age How I say could five more be brought in afterward By whom at what time in what Countrey c. For if any one had begun to do it others would have resisted it being a matter of so high moment And if one Countrey Province or Church had admitted them another would have refused or at leastwise there would have been some Doubt or Disputation and some general Meeting and Synod or Council gathered about that matter and some parts would have admitted one Number and some another as we see that the Sectaries of our time have done since the matter hath been called in question by them some allowing five some four some three some two But no memory of any of these differences being to be found among Catholics most certain it is that this Number came down from Christ and his Apostles themselves 27. The like or greater difficulty would also have been about the use of Sacramental Confession if it had not been appointed by Christ and put in ure presently and so continued from time to time For that it being a thing in it self most repugnant to man's sensual Nature to be bound to open his particular sins to another with that Humility and Subjection which Catholic Doctrin doth prescribe in the use of that Sacrament clear it is that if it had not been in ure even from the Apostles time and that as a matter of absolute necessity it could never have been received afterward nor yet brought in by any Human Power Art or Device For who I pray you should or could bring in such a thing of so great repugnance and difficulty upon the whole Christian Church Will they say any Pope Let them name either Him or Them together with the Time and other Particularities which they never will be able to do 28. Besides this I ask them further What Pope would ever have attempted this if it had not been by Obligation before him seeing that Popes themselves the more Great and Eminent they be above others the more natural repugnance must they needs find in themselves to go and kneel down at the feet of an inferior Priest and confess unto him their most secret sins And the like may be said of Temporal Princes and Emperours who if any Pope or Power Ecclesiastical would have laid such a burthen upon them not used nor of obligation before how would they have yielded unto it which of them would not have answered that seeing their Fathers and Ancestors were saved without this subjection and irksom obligation of revealing their particular sins they would hope to be so also And finally some great Difficulty Doubt or Contention would have been about this matter before it could have been so brought in and established all over the Christian World as we see by experience it was and at leastwise some memory would have remained thereof in Histories which we find not and consequently we may conclude that there was never any such thing And this is sufficient for our first Argument Now let us pass to the second CHAP. VI. It is proved by the second kind of Affirmative or Positive Arguments That the Points of Catholic Doctrin before denied by Fox and Sir Francis were in use in Pope Eleutherius his Time and in other Ages immediately following and this by Testimony of Protestant Writers themselves ALbeit the Reasons and Considerations before alledged whereby our Adversaries are willed to shew the beginning of such Articles and Points of our Catholic Doctrin as they deny to have come down from the Apostles Time were sufficient to put them to silence being not able to perform any part thereof and consequently also may open the eyes of any studious Reader to see
quantáque animum tuum Regni Christi praemia in die Judicii manerent c. Thou didst vow to be a perpetual Monk before Almighty God in the sight both of Angels and Men. O how great a flame of heavenly-hope would burn in the hearts of them that now despair of thee if thou hadst remained in that good state O how great Rewards of Christ's Kingdom would remain for thee in the day of Judgment c. 14. Thus saith he And would Protestants think you speak thus also seeing John Fox doth so greatly condemn our ancient Kings and Princes of the English Nation for that so many of them in the fervour of the Primitive Church made themselves Monks Yet Gildas you see on the contrary side commendeth highly that Fact in the Prince Maglocunus and greatly condemneth him for leaving that holy state And hereby also is refuted that foolish refuge of Fox and his Companions who say and affirm without shame that Monks had no Vows in those days but only that Monasteries were Schooles and places of Learning without any Obligation to persevere therein or to abstain from Marriage c. But let him shew that every one of those 2000 Monks that he saith lived in the Monastery of Bangor together did ever marry or pretend to have Liberty so to do after they were professed Monks and then he saith somewhat And as for vowing and public profession made to God in the sight of his Angels and the whole Church the matter is evident enough in this place what was then in use among the Britans 15. But let us pass from Princes to Priests What saith Gildas of them You shall hear his Words Sacerdotes habet Britannia sed insipientes c. Ecclesiae domus habentes sed turpis lucri gratia eas adeuntes c. rarò sacrificantes nunquam puro corde inter altaria stantes c. Sedem Petri Apostoli immundis pedibus usurpantes c. Britanny hath Priests but without Wisdom c. They possess the houses of the Church but go unto them only for filthy lucre's sake c. They do seldom sacrifice but never go to the Altar with a pure heart c. They do usurp the Seat of Peter the Apostle with unclean feet c. 16. Lo here Massing and Sacrificing Priests in those days which are so hated and persecuted at this day in England tho' God be thanked free from these Vices of impure Life which here is objected to the Priests of that time But let us hear yet Gildas further In Apostolicis sanctionibus ob inscitiam hebetes They are dull in observing Apostolical Sanctions for that they are unlearned and understand them not Lo here Priests reprehended for lack of skill in the Ecclesiastical Canons and Apostolical Decrees And yet he goeth further Desperatiùs errant quo non ab Apostolis vel Apostolorum successoribus sed à Tyrannis à patre eorum diabolo emunt sacerdotia These Men do err the more desperately for that they buy unto themselves the Office of Priesthood not of the Apostles or their Successors as Simon Magus would have done the Holy Ghost but of Tyrant Princes and of the Devil their Father 17. Here you see that Priesthood in those days was not wont to be given by the Authority of Lay Princes but by the Successors of the Apostles to wit Bishops And then further he goeth forward shewing how these naughty Priests being once possessed of that Dignity and made proud thereby presumed to say Mass unworthily Manus non tam venerabilibus aris quam flammis inferni ultricibus dignas in tale schema positi sacrosanctis Christi sacrificiis extensuri These Priests being once put in this Dignity or Ornament they presume to stretch out their hands to the most holy Sacrifices of Christ tho their hands be more worthy of the burning flames of hell than to touch the venerable Altars 18. Thus he wrote of Altars and Sacrifice among the Britans in those days and divers other Points like unto this which for brevity's sake I omit only I would ask our Men in general whether this be spoken as of Protestants or no And then would I demand of John Fox in particular how that can be true which he affirmeth That the Britans had no Mass in those days seeing Gildas talketh so much of Priests that did Sacrifice upon Altars And if he will say that Gildas useth not the word Mass it is a plain Cavil seeing nothing is signified by the Mass but only the external Sacrifice of Christians here mentioned And that the word Mass was generally used in the Latin Church for Sacrifice long before this time of Gildas appeareth by many Authors but especially by St. Augustin the Doctor in divers places of his works whereof some in the Margent we shall note 19. I would ask also of John Bale how the Religion of the Britans was the pure and naked Gospel in those days for so he saith if it had in it not only that custom of the Jews before mentioned of the Quartadecimani but all these other Points also which his Church counteth for Errors to wit of Professed Monks and Consecrated Nuns of Sacrificing upon Altars and the like how I say could this British Church be accounted by him and his so pure and unspotted But little heed is there to be given to these Mens saying or unsaying but as the present occasion of necessity urgeth them And therefore we will go forward to shew some other Observations in this kind CHAP X. The continuation of the same matter wherein is shewed by divers Proofs and Examples that the Britans before St. Gregory's time were of the same Religion that he sent into England by St. Augustin to wit of the Roman AND first of all to begin with the first Entrance of our first English Apostles St. Bede writing of the City of Canterbury at the coming of St. Augustin before King Ethelbert was converted saith thus Erat autem propè ipsam civitatem ad orientem Ecclesia in honorem St. Martini antiquitus facta dum adhuc Romani Britanniam incolerent c. In hac ergo ipsi primò convenire psallere orare Missas facere praedicare baptizare coeperunt There was a Church near to the City on the East side built in old time in the honor of St. Martin while yet the Romans did hold Brittany c. Wherefore in this Church Augustin and his company did first use to meet together to sing Psalms to Pray to say Masses to preach and to baptize the People c. 2. Note here that seeing the Romans left England presently upon the destruction of Rome by the Goths to wit about the year of Christ 400 which was some fifty years before the entrance of the Saxons then was the use of building Churches in the Honor of Saints in practise among the Britans and Roman Christians of those days living in
Calixtus the Second Whereby appeareth that the Britans were not only Papists in those days before the coming of St. Augustin but had Papist Gods and Saints also there Yet this Man might live according to Bale to have seen the times of St. Augustin's entrance for that he saith he flourished in the year 440. and lived in all 146 years tho' Gerrad Cambrensis Polydor and others do make him somewhat more ancient 10. And for that we have talked here of John Bale and that the testimonies taken from Enemies themselves are of greatest weight against themselves we shall in this place touch certain Points briefly of the chief Preachers and Pastors among the Britans in those days to wit for the next two hundred years before the coming of St. Augustin into England Which Preachers are mentioned and much praised both by Fox and Bale as true Teachers in those days whereof Fox writeth thus In this Age to wit after the Peace restored to the Church by Constantine followed here in the land of Britanny Fastidius Ninianus Patricius Bacchiarius Dubritius Congellus Kentegernus Helmotus David Daniel Sampson Elnodugus Assaphus Gildas Henlanus Elbodus Dinothus Samuel Nivius and a great sort more which governed the Britan Church by Christian Doctrin a long season albeit the civil Governours for the time were dissolute and careless as Gildas very sharply doth lay to their Charge and so at length were subdued by the Saxons And all this while about the space of 400 years to wit from the time of King Lucius Religion remained in Britanny uncorrupt and the word of Christ truly preached until about the coming of St. Augustin and his Companions from Rome c. 11. Here now you see the chief Teachers of the British Church Nineteen in number for the space of 400 years as Fox avoweth set down in order and highly praised by him but neither his Order or Argument is worth a rush For as for his Order he beginneth with Fastidius that lived not two hundred years before St. Augustin's coming tho he name four hundred And then he putteth some before that lived long after the rest and sometimes skippeth over 100 years together from one to another as you shall see by the Examen And for his Argument how many lies and errors it containeth shall easily appear by the Sequel of this Discourse For first concerning two of the chief in this Catalogue contained to wit Dubritius and David Archbishops of the Britans you have seen before that they were Roman Catholics and canonized many Ages after their Death by Roman Bishops which they would never have done if they had differed from them in any Point of Religion But now let us see of the rest for I see not what reason there is why Fox should so commend these two 12. The first four are Fastidius Ninianus Patricius and Bacchiarius all which are found to have been Catholic Men and held the common Faith of Rome in those days nor any of them ever favoured any of these new Doctrins brought in by our new Gospellers Trithemius maketh mention of Fastidius whose Sirname was Priscus Bishop of the Britans a Man of rare Life and great Learning in the Scriptures and a singular Preacher and lived in the time of Honorius and Theodosius the Emperors about the year of Christ 420. The same do write of him both Honorius Gennadius and Bergomas And John Bale concurreth with the rest adding that he was Archbishop of London and that amongst other his Works he wrote one De Viduitate servanda of keeping Widowhood without marryig again By which only work you may know that he was not of John Bale's Religion What we have written also of the Religion of St. German and his fellow Bishops that came into England may easily declare what Religion this Man was of who being then Archbishop of London must needs be presumed to have had a great part in their calling in as also to have joyned with them against the Pelagians which he would not have done if they had not been all of one Religion And thus much of him 13. Of St. Ninianus who converted the Picts to Christian Religion St. Bede maketh most honorable mention in the Third Book of his Ecclesiastical History and the Roman Martyrologe doth cite him for a Saint upon the Sixteenth day of September Which would never have been permitted if he had been in any one thing different from the Roman Faith. Nay John Bale writeth of him thus Ninianus Bernitius ex Regio Britannorum sanguine procreatus Italiam adhuc adolescens petiit Romae apud divini verbi ministros mysteria veritatis edoctus ad plenum celer in patriam remigrabat c. miraculis ac sanctitate clarissimus obiit anno 432. St. Ninian Bernitius being descended of the Blood of the King 's of Britanny went in his youth into Italy and being fully taught the Mysteries of Gods Word in Rome he returned swiftly to his Country again where he flourished exceedingly in Miracles and Sanctity of Life and after died in the year of Christ 432. Mark here that Princes Children became Priests in those days and went to Rome to learn Divinity and that this Man having done so and brought back into Britanny the Christian Doctrin of Rome wrought Miracles thereby Ergo he was no Protestant so that here Bale testifieth against himself 14. There followeth of Patricius in John Fox but indeed he should have put Palladius before Patricius For so doth Bale and he hath Reason for that he was a famous Teacher in Britanny and sent from Rome by Pope Caelestinus before Patricius as Bale doth note saying first of Palladius Hic à Caelestino Romanorum Pontifice Antistes mittebatur c. This Man was sent Bishop from Caelestinus Pope of Rome to drive out of Britanny the Pelagian Heresie which at that time had infected the greater part thereof and to reduce the Scots to true Piety c. He flourished about the year of Christ 431. c. So saith he And the same is confirmed by that which Prosper a far better Author than Bale writeth in his Chronicle where he saith that Palladius was sent by Caelestinus Pope in the year 432 into Britanny but especially to the Scots as testifieth also St. Bede in his Story So as in this time also the Popes of Rome had Supreme Care in Spiritual Affairs both among the Britans and Scots seeing he appointed them Bishops from Rome 15. And this is confirmed also by the other Example of Patricius who as John Bale saith was sirnamed Mangonius and was born in Britanny of the Family of Senators and thereby called Patricius but yet of kindred by his Mother to St. Martin Bishop of Tours study'd Divinity in Rome and thence sent by Caelestinus the Pope to preach to the Irish-men Istum saith he ad Scotos Hibernos post Palladium Graecum misit ut eos à Pelagianorum tueretur
erroribus This man did Caelestinus Bishop of Rome send to the Scots and Irish-men especially those that lived in Britanny after Palladius the Grecian to defend them from the Errors of the Pelagians 16. Behold the Care and Authority of the Bishop of Rome in those days But what followeth in Bale This man saith he did preach the Gospel unto the Irish-men with incredible fervour of spirit for forty years together and did convert them to the sincere Faith of Christ He was most excellent both in Learning and Holiness and among other Miracles that he did he continued in Praying and Fasting forty days and forty nights founded many Churches healed many sick deliver'd many possessed of Devils and raised to life sixty that were dead c. 17. Behold the effects of Preachers sent forth by the Bishops of Rome recounted by the Heretics themselves Let Fox or Bale shew us any such Example of Miracles wrought by Preachers sent by them and their Sect. And that this man also was made Bishop by Caelestinus the Pope and sent hither after Palladius is testified by St. Prosper that lived in that time and after him by St. Bede Marianus Scotus Sigibert and others who say also that he died in the year of Christ 491 being of the age of 122 years and his Memory is held in the Roman Calendar upon the 17th day of March c. And now our Fox and Bale being taken in these Examples to speak against themselves we might pass over the rest with silence assuring the Reader that all is like unto this Yet some points more we shall note 18. The fourth before named Bacchiarius tho' he be not mentioned by John Bale yet other Authors do report that he was brought up in Rome and in good credit with Pope Leo I. to whom he dedicated a Book written in defence of his Pilgrimage to Rome He had been the Scholar of St. Patricius and by this you may guess of what Religion he was 19. Congellus is the sixth Preacher of true Religion cited in Fox's Catalogue for of Dubritius which is the fifth we spoke before whom Bale saith to have flourished about the year of Christ 530 and that he was the first Abbot of the Monastery of Bangor But what more think you Ab isto Monachismus à Pelagio introductus c. From this man saith he the Religion of Monks brought in by Pelagius the Heretic was not only spread over Britanny under shew of true Religion but was dilated also into other Countreys c. Behold how Fox and Bale agree Fox saith He was a true Preacher of the Word of God and Bale saith He was a Father of Pelagian Monks And note here by the way that Fox professing to shew the continual Succession of the Britan Church leapeth from Patricius to Dubritius of whom we spake before and between whom there was above 100 years distance if we believe Bale and other Authors And then followeth Kentegernus and Helmotus before David Menevensis who should have come after him in respect of time tho' of Helmotus Bale maketh no mention but of Kentegernus he saith That he flourished in the year 560 and lived in all 185 years which if it be so he must needs be alive long after the entrance of St. Augustin He saith He was a Monk and had three hundred Scholars in one Colledge which he sent to preaching here and there c. And then he addeth further Melote utebatur c. He used a Garment made of Goats skins with a streight Hood having a white Stole about his Neck after the fashion of the Primitive Church He converted many to the Faith of Christ recall'd many Apostatas drove out Pelagians built Churches ministred to the sick and healed their sickness and lived in very great Abstinence c. Thus he describeth him and whether this description doth agree to a Protestant Minister or to a Catholic Abbot let the Reader consider 20. There do follow in Fox's Catalogue David Daniel Sampson Elnodugus Asaphus and Gildas But of St. David the first of this number we have spoken before in this Chapter And as for Gildas which is the last of this Rank Bale saith He was a Monk of Bangor And further it may easily appear by the speeches themselves which before we have alledged out of him in the former Chapter of what Religion he was Of Daniel Sampson and Elnodugus tho' John Bale speak little or nothing yet Capgrave Leland and others shew that they were of the same Religion with the rest Daniel being the first Bishop of Bangor and Sampson next after St. David was Bishop of that place 21. Of Asaph Bale saith He was Scholar to the foresaid famous Abbot Kentegern and was made Bishop of Elgoa in Wales which of his name was called Asaph ever since He flourished in the year 590 and saw the coming in of Augustin and his Fellows from Rome and was the first of the Britans saith Bale qui à Gregorii Romani Discipulis in Angliam adventantibus Auctoritatem Unctionem accepit that took his Authority and Vnction or Consecration from the Disciples of Gregory Bishop of Rome that came into England So writeth Bale and by this sheweth that St. Asaph held nothing against the Roman Religion seeing he accepted his Authority and Consecration from the Bishop of Rome Besides this this Bishop St. Asaph hath his Memory celebrated in the Roman Martyrology upon the first day of May which he should not if he had been different in any one point from the Roman Religion 22. And so being come down now to St. Augustin's time it is to no purpose to go any farther or name the rest that do ensue in Fox to wit those five Herlanus Elbodus Dinothus Samuel and Nivius for that they lived after St. Augustin's entrance whereas Fox's promise was to cite only British Teachears that were before him and different from the Roman Religion whereof he hath named hitherto none Besides that of three of these five Bale writeth not and as for Dinothus Abbot of Bangor he was the chiefest of those who opposed themselves against Augustin and set other men against him also in Synodo Wiccionum and was severely punished afterward for the same by the Providence of God as St. Bede noteth to wit by the Sword of Ethelfredus a Heathen King of Northumberland long after the Death of St. Augustin when the said Dinothus and 1200 Monks were slain at Chester by the Souldiers of the said Ethelfride Augustino jam multo ante tempore saith St. Bede ad Coelestia Regna sublato St. Augustin being taken to Heaven long before tho' Bale be not ashamed to say that it was done by his suggestion praising the foresaid Dinothus and his Confederates for that they would not preach Baptism and celebrate Easter-day according to the Custom of Rome and Universal Catholic Church 23. So as now we see that these men care not
what they say or avouch so they say somewhat against Rome and those that any way favoured the same wherein passion doth so greatly blind them as they cannot discern when they alledge matters plainly against themselves as you have seen in the former enumeration of British Teachers Pastors and Prelates whom they would have us think to have been of a different Religion from that of Rome whereas their own words testimonies condition and state of life do testifie the contrary And so I leave these men to their folly and impudency in this behalf CHAP. XI The Deduction of the aforesaid Catholic Roman Religion planted in England by St. Augustin from his time to our days And that from King Ethelbert who first received the same unto King Henry VIII there was never any public interruption of the said Religion in our Land. HAving shewed before how that the Roman Catholic Faith was first preached in our Island under the Apostles and then again in the next Age under Pope Eleutherius and thirdly four Ages after that again under Pope Gregory and that all this was but one and the self-same Religion continued renewed and revived in divers times under divers States and People of the Realm there may seem to remain only now two other points considerable in this affair The first Whether this Religion brought in by St. Augustin to England were held at that day for the only true Religion of Christendom and so accepted by all the World The other Whether that Religion then planted hath come down and been continued in England ever since by continual Succession until the first public alteration made thereof in our days For if this be so then is the demonstration easie to be made even from the Apostles Times to Ours 2. And for the first tho' we have handled the same somewhat before yet briefly we will add now That there can be no doubt at all in this matter with men of Reason and Judgment but that St. Augustin and his Fellows brought in with them the whole Body of Religion as well touching Articles of Belief as Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Customs which were at that time in use at Rome whence they came and in other Catholic Countreys by which they passed namely Italy France and Flanders from which Countreys Pope Gregory himself exhorteth them by his Letters to take such good Ecclesiastical Uses as they should see most agreeable to Piety Edification and Devotion which is a sign that all those Countreys agreed fully in Faith and Belief with Rome at that day and were perfectly Catholic tho' in some external Ceremonies belonging to Devotion there might be difference And forasmuch as the French Bishops St. German St. Lupus and St. Severus 150 years as hath been said before the entrance of St. Augustin planted in Britanny the French Catholic Faith against the Pelagians and these men coming from Rome found no fault therewith most certain it is that all was one And finally if we do consider the Works Writings and Actions of Pope Gregory related by us before partly out of St. Isidore living at that time in Spain partly out of his own Epistles yet extant written to the chiefest Bishops of the Christian World and their Answers to him again together with their agreement in Faith and Religion If we do consider also the Heresies condemned in his days by Him and his Authority as the Eutychians Monothelites and others which our Protestants also do condemn for Heresies at this day By all this I say and by infinite other Arguments and Demonstrations that may be made it is most evident that either Christ had no Visible Church or Catholic Religion in those days which were most foolish and wicked to imagin or that the Religion of St. Gregory and his Church of Rome and others of others of the same Communion was in that Age the only true Catholic Church and consequently had in it the only true Catholic Faith and Religion of Christ whereby Christians might be saved which also is proved most evidently by infinit Miracles wrought in England and in divers other Countreys upon manifold occasions during this time of our Primitive Church as shall appear more in particular in the deduction of our second point which is the continuance of this same Religion from St. Augustin to Thomas Cranmer the first and last Archbishops of Canterbury following by Succession the one the other for the space of above 900 years the first dying a Saint the last ending in Apostacy as after shall be shewed 3. Wherefore to come to the second point about the deduction of Catholic Religion in our Nation from St. Augustin downward first of all St. Bede talking of the planting thereof and of our first Primitive Church whose progress and increase he describeth for the space of almost 140 years after the entrance of St. Augustin hath these words Gregorius Pontifex Divino admonitus instinctu servum Dei Augustinum alios plures cum eo Monachos timentes Dominum misit praedicare verbum Dei genti Anglorum c. Gregory the Pope being admonished by heavenly Instinct did send God's Servant Augustin and others Monks with him that feared God to preach his Word to the English Nation in the 14th year of Mauritius the Emperour which was of Christ 596 and the 4th after that St. Gregory was made Pope 4 These holy men landed in the Isle of Thanet belonging to the Kingdom of Kent for that the whole Dominion of the Saxons in those days which was all the Land except Scotland and the other part now called Wales whither the reliques of Britans were retir'd was divided into seven several States and Dominions which they called Kingdoms The first whereof to speak of them according as they received the Faith was the Kingdom of Kent whose King Ethelbert being the fourth in number from Hengistus that began the same about the year of Christ 450 afterward first of all other received the Christian Faith at the preaching of St. Augustin about the year of Christ 600 that is to say an hundred and fifty years after they had reigned as Pagans there 5. The second Kingdom was of the East-Saxons and contained the Shires now called Essex Middlesex and Hartfordshire The first founder of which Kingdom was Erchenwine about the year of our Lord 527 as Stow and some others do hold tho' Malmesbury doth write otherwise but both do agree that under King Seebert or as Bede calleth him Sabered those Provinces were converted to Christian Religion by the preaching of St. Mellitus Fellow to St. Augustin and first Bishop of their chief City of London whither he was sent by St. Augustin from Centerbury in the year of Christ 604. 6 The third Kingdom was of the East-Angles which contained the Shires of Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge and the Isle of Ely. Which Kingdom was begun about the year of Christ 492 by one Vffa but converted after to
Christian Religion under King Sigebert about the year of Christ 609 and that by the preaching principally of their first Bishop Felix born in Burgundy in France being ordain'd Bishop of a City there called Dunwich at that time which now is more than half consumed with the Sea. 7. The fourth Kingdom was of the Northumbers which contained many Shires towards the North to wit Lancashire Yorkshire Cumberland Westmorland Northumberland Durham and some part of Scotland The first Monarch of this Kingdom is accounted Ida and it received the Faith of Christian Religion under their 13th King Edwyn in the year of Christ 626 by the Preaching of St. Paulinus sent thither to preach by Justus the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury by whom the said Paulinus was translated from the See of Rochester to be Archbishop of York 8. The fifth Kingdom was of the West-Saxons which contained the Countreys of Cornwall Devonshire Dorsetshire Somersetshire Wiltshire Barkshire and Hampshire The first Founder thereof was Cerdick about the year of Christ 509 and under Kenegilsus their fifth King they received the Christian Faith by the preaching of St. Berinus their first Bishop of Dorchester in the year of Christ 635. 9. The sixth Kingdom was of the Mercians or Middle-Countrey being in that time the greatest of all the rest and containing some fifteen or sixteen Shires as Glocester Hereford Chester Stafford Worcester Shrewsbury Oxford Warwick Darby Leicester Buckingham Northampton Nottingham Huntington and Rutland The first Founder of this Monarchy is said to be one Creda about the year of Christ 586 and the Conversion thereof to Christian Faith was about the year of Christ 635 under Prince Peda Son and Heir unto the notable persecuting Pagan Peda. Their first Apostle was B. Finan who baptized King Peda against his Father's will in the Kingdom of the Northumbers at a Town by Berwick called Ad murum and this by the instance of the good Christian King Oswyn King of Northumberland who gave King Peda his Daughter in Marriage on this condition That he would become a Christian 10. The seventh Kingdom was of the South-Saxons containing the Shires of Sussex and Surrey and began about the year of Christ 478 by one Aelus a Saxon and was converted to Christianity under King Ethelwold or Ethelwach as St. Bede nameth him about the year of Christ 662 by the preaching especially of St. Wilfrid their first Bishop who erected a Monastery for the Episcopal See in a place called Seolyce or Selcey 11. Well then thus we see that within the space of forty years more or less six Kingdoms of England received the Gospel and the seventh not long after under their first Preachers and Apostles before mentioned And what great variety of Miracles God did work by these his Servants and their Helpers and Assistants in this Work of the Conversion of our Countrey is evident by all Stories of that time and after and no man but an Infidel or Miscreant can with any probable reason call them in doubt 12. And it seemeth that the promise of our Savior made to his Apostles at his last farewell in St. Mark 's Gospel for Miracles to be wrought in the Conversion of Nations especially of Gentiles as St. Gregory observeth was as abundantly fulfilled in the first Conversion of our English Nation as of any other probably in the World. The Signs and Miracles saith Christ which shall follow them that shall believe in me or receive my Faith especially in the beginning are these That they shall cast out Devils in my Name they shall speak with new Tongues they shall remove Serpents and if they should drink Poyson it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands upon sick men and therewith heal them c. 13. All these things promised Christ our Savior and performed them most abundantly in the first Conversion of Nations while the said Miracles were necessary to plant and confirm the Faith. But when as St. Gregory in the place before alledged saith the young Plants had no more need of such daily watering by Miracles then ceased they Tho' in our Countrey and Primitive Church they endured no small time as were easie to shew if I would stand in this place to run over the Ecclesiastical Stories of the least part of the aforesaid seven Kingdoms whereof yet many things will be spoken of afterward 14. For only in the Kingdom of Kent for the first hundred years after the Conversion of King Ethelbert there possessed the See of Canterbury from St. Augustin unto Bertualdus who died in the year of Christ 730 and with whom St. Bede endeth eight Arch-bishops all most Godly and Holy Men to wit Augustin Laurence Melitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Theodorus and Bertualdus Which Bishops were held for great Saints in our Primitive Church as appeareth by the writing both of St. Bede that lived also himself in that Age and by William of Malmesbury that lived some Ages after Who yet alledgeth a more Ancient Author than himself called Gosselinus that wrote the Lives and Miracles of all those Eight Arch-bishops of Canterbury and of some other Saints of our Country Horum saith he non minus sancti Letardi c. Of these Arch-bishops as also of St. Letard that in Ancient time came in with Q. Berta the Author before mentioned Gosselinus hath written their marvelous and admirable vertues out of Bede and others Adding also many things which he saw himself with his own Eyes shewing the great Miracles and Signs which they did c. He doth recount also the Rank of Kings with their Kindred that lay Buried in his days in the Church of St. Augustin at Canterbury Which he doth worthily call the lights of England and the Senators of the English Heavenly Court of Parliament And to this Quire of Saints and Crown or Diadem of our Eternal King Christ he addeth other pretious Stones also of Inestimable Glory to wit St. Adrian the Abbot and St. Mildred the Virgin as Conspicuous in Glory of Miracles as the rest c. 15. Thus writeth Malmesbury of these servants of God of the Church of Canterbury for the first hundred years after Christ's Faith received but he that would recount the like of all the other six Kingdoms and English Churches should have great store of matter Especially if he would enter into the particular Lives and Actions of such eminent Holy Men as that Age by the force and virtue of that Primitive Christian Religion brought forth And then if with all this he remember in like manner that most certain principle before mentioned that God would never have concurred with such abundance of Piety Holiness and Miracles to the setting up of a false Religion he will easily see how plain a demonstration this is for the truth of that Religion which was thus planted amongst us by St. Augustin and Maligned by these Sectaries of our time 16. Well then
of this King Canutus saying amongst other things thus Monasteria per Angliam c. He did repair all the Monasteries in England that were overthrown or defaced by the Wars of his Father Swanus or himself He did Build Churches in all the places where he had fought any Battels And appointed Priests for the said Churches who should Pray continually to the Worlds end for the Souls of them that had been slain in those places He was present at the Consecration of a goodly Church in a place called Aschendum where he had his chiefest victory causing both the Nobles of the English and Danish Nation to offer with him Rich gifts to the said Church c. 22. Over the Body of Blessed St. Edmund which the Ancient Danes had slain he Builded a Church worthy the greatness of his Kingly Heart appointing there both an Abbot and Monks and giving them many Possessions In so much as by the greatness of his gifts that Monastery at this day is above all the rest in England He took up with his own hands the Body of St. Elphegus Arch-bishop of Canterbury slain not long before by his Danes and caused the same to be be carried unto Canterbury Reverencing the same with worthy honor He gave such great Gifts and rare Jewels to the Church of Winchester that the shining of pretious Stones did dazle the Eyes of such as did behold them c. In the Fifteenth year of his Kingdom he went to Rome by Land and having stayed some days there and redeeming his sins by Alms in those Churches he returned by Sea to England c. 23. Thus and much more doth William of Malmesbury write of this notable King Canatus a terrible and fierce Warrior before his Conversion and much given to Blood and Impiety whereby may easily be seen what force Catholic Religion is of to make change in a Mans manners where it truly entreth Let Protestants shew us some such examples of Princes Converted to their Religion But to go forward in Malmesbury he setteth down after all this a large Epistle of King Canutus which he wrote from Rome or in the way homeward unto the two Arch-bishops Egetnothus and Alfricus the first of Canterbury the other of York and by them to the whole Realm giving them account of his Journy to Rome Where amongst other things he writeth thus Canutus Rex totius Angliae Denmarkiae Norvegiae partis Suecorum c. notifico vobis me noviter ivisse Romam oratum pro Redemptione peccaminum meorum c. I Canutus King of all England Denmark and Norway and part of Swecia c. do give you to understand that of late I went to Rome to pray for the Redemption of my sins and for the health of my Kingdoms and people having made a vow of this Journy long ago but could never perform it until now by reason I was hindred by the Affairs of my Kingdoms And now I do yield most hearty thanks to Almighty God that he hath granted me this Grace to come and visit in my Life time the Blessed Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and all the Sanctuary that is within and without this City and according to my desire to honor and worship the same in my own person c. 24. Thus he wrote And moreover adjoyned many other pious Ordinances in the same Epistle to be observed in England for Restitutions to be made Alms to be given and other good deeds to be done exhorting all to perform them willingly and threatning them that should do the contrary And William of Malmesbury saith that returning after to England he caused the same to be strictly observed And gave many new priviledges to Churches And one among other to the Church of Canterbury which Malmesbury setteth down at length and in the end hath these words Si quis verò c. If any Man shall perform this my Ordination with a prompt will Almighty God by the Intercession of the most Blessed Virgin Mary and all his Saints increase his portion in the Land of the living And this Donation of Priviledge is written and Promulgated in the Presence of me King Canutus in the Wooden Church in the year of Christ 1032. 23. Thus far writeth William of Malmesbury of this Kings Pious disposition after his coming from Rome And John Stow addeth out of Henry of Huntington as followeth After this time Canutus never bare Crown upon his Head but he set the same upon the Head of the Crucifix at Winchester c. And thus much of his Piety and other Fruits of true Christian Faith which he had received And it is no small Argument of the Divine Power thereof that it could so mollifie and change so fierce a Warriour and cruel a Persecutor as this King was before his Conversion 26. So as now we have brought down the continuance and succession of one and the self same Christian Religion in England from St. Augustin and King Ethelbert unto King Canutus for the space of 400 years And that this was no particular Religion of England alone but the Common General Faith not only of Rome but of all Christendom besides at that day and consequently the only Catholic Religion of those Ages appeareth in like manner by other words of the Kings former Letter Recorded by Malmesbury where he saith Sit autem vobis notum c. Be it known unto you that in this last solemnity of Easter there was a great Assembly of Nobility here in Rome together with Pope John and the Emperor Conrade to wit all the greatest Princes from the Hill Garganus unto this other next the Sea all which did receive me most honorably and did present me with Magnificent Gifts c. Thus wrote the King Whereby we may easily perceive that King Canutus was held in all Points for a perfect Catholic Prince seeing that both Pope John the 20th and the Emperor Conrade the 2d did esteem and honor him so highly 27. After Canutus succeeded in the Kingdom of England his two Sons Harold and Hardicanutus for two or three years And then King Edward the Confessor for Twenty-three years together After whose Death the second Harold Son of Earl Goodwin holding the Kingdom by violence against both English and Danes scarce one year William Duke of Normandy came in as all Men know and Conquered the Land towards the end of the year 1066. and held the same all days of his Life and so hath his posterity after him by Male or Female unto our time and have continued the same Religion which he found or brought into England for all was one for the space of 500 years unto King Henry the Eighth's time which may be proved beside other ways by the Succession of our Arch-bishops of Canterbury Stigand an English Man being the Twenty-third from St. Augustin holding the same when William the Conqueror got the Crown to whom succeeded Lanfranc and to him
Anselmus and so successively one after another none of them ever being noted to be contrary to his Predecessor in Religion until Thomas Cranmer in King Henry the Eighth's time Who applyed himself to the Religion which the State and Prince liked best to allow of in that time And after the Kings Death agreed to break his last Will and Testament in changing that Religion into Zuinglianism most detested by his Majesty And after again Conspired to put down and destroy all the Kings Children and to set up the Duke of Suffolks Daughter And finally was put to Death both for Heresie and Treason in Queen Maries time as after more particularly shall be shewed And this was the first change of Religion in any Arch-bishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days 28. So as from King Ethelbert the first Christned English King unto King Henry the Eighth being the Eighteenth from William the Conqueror and more than Eighty from the said Ethelbert one and the self same Faith endured in England and the self same Church florished under so many different both Kings and Nations as before hath been shewed And the like we have declared to have been for the first 600 years under the Britans to wit that they never were known to have changed their Religion Which being so the deduction and demonstration is so clear as any reasonable Man can either make or require for proof that one and the self same Religion endured from the beginning to the ending among them 29. Unto which kind of proof the Ancient Holy Father and Martyr St. Irenaeus giveth great Authority by a like Argument For that having made the like Enumeration of the Bishops of Rome as we do now of our Arch-bishops of Canterbury against the Heretics of his days and that from St. Peter downward to Pope Eleutherius that lived with him he inferreth this conclusion Est plenissima haec ostensio unam eandem vivificatricem fidem esse quae in Ecclesiis ab Apostolis conservata tradita in unitate c. This is a most full proof that one and the self same lively Faith hath been conserved in the Church from the Apostles days unto our time delivered from one to another in unity c. And if that were a most full proof and demonstration in St. Irenaeus judgment against the Heretics of his time The same is now much more to us having seen the Succession of so many Ages since and noted the manner of like proof and Argument in all other Fathers after him As namely of St. Augustin Numerate sacerdotes velab ipsa Petri Sede in ordine illo Patrum quis cui successit videte Number the Priests that have succeeded the one to the other even from the Seat of Peter himself And then further In hoc ordine Successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur No one Donatist Bishop is to be found in this rank of Succession And yet more 30. Et si in illum ordinem Episcoporum quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae And if any Traytor in those days should have crept into that order and rank of Roman Bishops for of them he speaketh it should not have prejudicated the Church of God. 31. Which saying of St. Austin may serve us not only to Answer whatsoever Heretics do or may object true or false against the Lives of any latter Roman Bishops but for defence also of the Rank and Succession of our Archbishops of Canterbury notwithstanding the Apostasie of Thomas Cranmer or any other his like that for these latter years may have crept in as St. Austin saith or been thrust in and by violence occupied that See and Seat unworthily either in respect of his life or Religion or both seeing that the former Succession as well of Men as of Doctrin from St. Austin to Cranmer is manifest and evident for the space of 900 years without interruption as also that they were united all this time in Faith and Doctrin with the Universal Church of Christendom as Members and Branches of their Head and Body and that the first breach and interruption made thereof in that See by Cranmer and continued after him by some of his followers was noted presently and contradicted yea censured and condemned also by Sentence of the whole Church and thereupon rejected and abhorred by the principal of his own people both Clergy and Laity at that time 32. And the same contradiction endureth to this day and will do ever in those that conserve their Ancient Faith and Religion and do adhere to the lawful Succession of his Predecessors against him and his partners until it please Almighty God to put the said order and lawful Succession in joynt again and restore that chief and head conduct of our Country to his former integrity whereby the Water of true Catholic Religion was wont to be derived to the people of our Land and will be again when Gods wrath for our sins shall be pacified and his mercy induce him to permit as often otherwise he hath done that all return to the accustomed Ancient course of Catholic Faith and Religion again seeing in very deed there is none but that for so much as Sects and new Religions are but inventions and entertainments of time whilst God punisheth some sins in his Servants and after all returneth where it was before 33. And this have we spoken by the way and by occasion of Cranmer that was the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury that ever brake from the Roman Faith but notwithstanding his Apostasie Catholic Religion was not extinguished in England by that but remained there still all King Henries time as also during the Reigns of his three Children King and Queens Edward Mary and Elizabeth unto these our days as in the next Chapter following more largly and particularly we are to demonstrate CHAP. XII How Catholic Religion hath continued and persevered in England during the times and Reigns of King Henry the Eighth and his three Children King Edward Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all the troubles changes alterations and tribulations that have fallen out and that the same Religion is like to continue to the Worlds end if our sins hinder not THE deduction which we have hitherto made of Catholic Religion from our first Conversion under St. Gregory and King Ethelbert of Kent unto the Reign of King Henry the Eighth with whom concurred in the See of Rome Leo the Tenth and Clemens the Seventh and other Popes Successors of St. Gregory hath been for the most part in time of Peace and without any public discontinuance at all but now are we to prosecute the same matter from the alteration made by King Henry downward unto our days and therein to shew that albeit in the external Face and Form of Religion there have been divers Mutations as Tempestuous Winds and Storms for the present yet hath the Catholic
the first an earnest Lutheran the other two Zwinglians 14. All these demonstrations I say King Henry made this year of his Catholic Opinion and Judgment in all points except in matter of Supremacy which was his own Interest And for the other six years which he lived afterwards he vary'd not from this but rather confirm'd the same as we may see by his burning of Anne Askew for denying the Real Presence in the Sacrament not many months before his death and by his own hearing of Mass in his bed and receiving the blessed Sacrament on his knees when he was not able to stand on his feet but especially by that which Bishop Gardiner testified while he lived and preached the same in a public Sermon at Paul's Cross that the said King not long before his dying day when he sent him Embassador to a Diet in Germany gave him special Commission in secret to procure by the means of some Catholic Princes and of the Pope's Legat and Nuntio there some honorable condition for his Majesty's reconciliation with the Pope and See of Rome again which tho' God of his secret Judgment permitted him not to effectuate by the shortness of his life yet appeareth it by this what his sense in matters of Religion was 15. So then now we have that Catholic Church and Religion continued in England during King Henry's Reign both in Prince and People tho' much turmoil'd by Faction Schisms and Heresie wherein notwithstanding she no more lost her possession and continuance than she did in time of the raging Arians Donatists or other Sectaries that prevailed in power for the present time either generally or in some particular Provinces as Lutherans and Zwinglians also did in King Henry's days in divers places or do at this day which yet was and is so as they are easily distinguished from the other not only by the Divisions and Differences among themselves but also for that the Union of the Catholic Religion doth ever shew it self in some Regions adjoyning yea commonly also even in those very places where these Sects do range and bear most rule some Catholics do remain to contradict them openly and to plead for their old possession and the greater the Persecution is the greater and more eminent is this Catholic contradicting part stirred up and increased by the very Power and Vertue of the Cross of Christ in Persecution as before hath been noted 16. And this was the state of Catholic Religion in King Henry's Reign to wit that it was held and defended publicly except only the Article of Ecclesiastical Supremacy denied to the Pope whereunto notwithstanding many thousands of the Realm never agreed and consequently were truly Catholics Heretics also were punished especially those three Sects that principally ranged at that time to wit Lutherans Anabaptists and Zwinglians all three taking their Origin from Luther so as of all these three Sects King Henry burned many and albeit of the fourth sort of men that opposed themselves against him to wit Catholics he put divers also to death under the name of Papists yet both this very Name as also the different manner of their Deaths but above all the nature of their Cause doth evidently distinguish them from the other and shew that their Deaths were true Martyrdoms and the others due Punishment for their Wickedness 17. For first the name of Papists that signifieth them to hold with the Pope as Supreme Head of their Church importeth no more hurt or offence than if any Sedition moved within any Realm those that hold with the King should be called Kinglings or those for example that hold part with the Mayor of London when any Apprentices would raise Rebellion against him should scornfully be called Mayorists and generally for a man to hold with his Lawful Superiour cannot be termed a Faction and much less an Heresie 18. Secondly the very difference and manner of punishment used by King Henry towards both parts the one by Fire the others by Beheading and Hanging doth evidently shew what difference he made of them the one as of Heretics and the other as of men offending against his State and Person after he had made the Supremacy Ecclesiastical to be a matter of his State and of his Royal Dignity whereby also he shewed that he was no Gospeller 19. But now for the third point which is the most important of all the rest to shew the difference in these mens Causes and that the Catholics suffered innocently for their Conscience and consequently were true Martyrs and that the other sorts of Sectaries were punished deservedly as Malefactors it is not hard to prove to him that is of any mean consideration or indifferency in matters For first who will not grant but that he that is an honest and good man when he goeth to bed for example cannot easily be made an evil man in his sleep without any motive of his affection or free will at all And again He that is a good and true Subject towards his Prince and Countrey this day how can he well to morrow be judged a Traytor the highest sin of all other if in the mean space he change not his mind nor do any act of word or deed contrary to that he did before And yet this was the Cause of the Catholics put to death under King Henry for the Supremacy 20. As for Example Sir Thomas More was Prisoner in the Tower of London upon some displeasure in the year 1534 where he attending only to his Prayers as himself testifieth and to the Writing of some Spiritual Books pertaining to the contempt of this present transitory World there passed in the mean time a Statute in the Parliament-house appointing that whomsoever did not believe the King's Majesty to be Supreme Head of the Church of England in causes Ecclesiastical should be a Traitor and suffer death for it which seeming a new and strange thing unto him and contrary to the belief of all his Forefathers he could not so soon conform himself thereunto and consequently refused when he was demanded to subscribe to the Statute and to make so great a change in his Faith upon the change of others for which soon after he was put to death not for that he had attempted altered or innovated any thing as you see but for that he would not alter and make innovation And this was the proper true cause of all Catholics that suffered for the Supremacy under King Henry VIII 20. But on the contrary side the others that were put to death by him as Sectaries did wickedly and presumptuously alter and innovate of their own heads many things about Belief and Doctrin different from that which they had received and contrary to the Belief of all their Forefathers ancient Christians for many Ages together and that with such obstinacy as no Reason Authority Discipline or Order no Witness Human or Divine could prevail with them and albeit for this obstinacy
each Sect pretended Scriptures for themselves yet the vertue and substance of Scriptures consisting in their true meaning and interpretation thereof it was intolerable pride and insolency in them to arrogate to themselves the said true Interpretation and Exposition before the whole Church of God that went before them And hereof ensued the justness of their punishment which in Catholics can have no place as before hath been shewed Yet one Example of each sort of these men shall we here alledge thereby better to declare the Case 21. King Henry during his Reign caused sundry sorts of men to be put to death about matter of Religion as is notorious and first certain Anabaptists and new Arians namely in the 27th and 30th years of his Reign In the former of these two Condemnations were nineteen Men and six Women as Stow and others do relate and in the second were three Men and one Woman condemned These Anabaptists denied amongst other points that Children ought to be baptized before they come to years of discretion and can actually believe for defence of which Doctrin they stood resolutely upon many clear places of Scripture as to them then seemed to wit Qui crediderit baptizatus fuerit salvus erit Marc. 16. He that shall believe and be baptized shall be saved Lo say they it is necessary to believe as well as to be baptized which Infants being not able to do ought not to receive Baptism in their Infancy or if they do they must be rebaptized again when they come to years of discretion Thus reasoned they And besides this Text they and their chief Masters do alledge almost thirty places of Scripture more which seem most plain and evident to them as by their Books that are extant appeareth 22. The like places they do alledge also for that other absurd Position of theirs That no Magistrate may punish by death as for example those words of God Exod. 20. Non occides Thou shalt not kill and again the saying of our Savior Omnes qui acceperint gladium gladio peribunt Matth. 26. All that use the sword shall perish by the sword Thus said the Anabaptists from which by no means could they be drawn but went willingly to the fire for testimony of their Opinions The Arians also denying the Equality of God the Son with the Father alledged no less plain places as they would have them to seem namely that of Christ himself in St. John's Gospel ch 14. Pater meus major me est My Father is greater than I and many other which were too long here to recite And this of them who burned together obstinately in one fire in England 23. But what shall we say of the Lutherans Do not they alledge plain places also both against Us and Calvinists as themselves think For against Calvinists in defence of the Real Presence in the Sacrament they urge the plain words of Christ as we do Hoc est corpus meum This is my Body And against us for their gross Opinion that the substance of Bread and Wine remaineth together with the Body of Christ they alledge many places of Scripture where it is called Bread which places the Zuinglians accepting do turn the same against the Lutherans affirming that for so much as it is so oftentimes called Bread in the Scripture it is not the true Body of Christ at all And this passed between Fryer Barns and the two Apostata Priests Gerard and Jerom burned with him The first a fervent Lutheran the other two earnest Zuinglians all three consumed by Fire at one Stake in Smithfield by King Henries appointment in the Thirty-second year of his Reign 24. But now was there a third or fourth sort of Sectaries in K. Henries days who were neither Anabaptists Arians nor yet perfect Lutherans or Zwinglians but would have the Controversie of the Blessed Sacrament and Real Presence to be an indifferent thing to be believed or not believed as every Man should think best So held William Tyndall as also his Scholar John Frith whom John Fox doth compare to St. Paul and Timothy Frith being Burned in Smithfield by the Kings express Commandment in the Twenty-sixth year of his Reign and Tyndall not long after in Flanders by the said Kings procurement as more largely we shall declare in the Third Part of this Treatise when we come to examine John Fox his Calendar of Martyrs Now it shall be sufficient for proof of that we say to alledge Fox himself who setting down the Articles of Frith for which he was Burned assigneth this for the first First saith he the matter of the Sacrament is no necessary Article of Faith under pain of Damnation c. But may be believed or not believed as every Man shall think best And for proof thereof alledgeth divers Arguments out of Scripture that the Fathers forsooth of the Old Testament were saved by the same Faith that we are and yet were not bound to believe the Real Presence c. And Fox seemeth to like well both of this Argument and of the Heresie 25. Now then here be four or five sorts of Sectaries Condemned by King Henry and all defended themselves by shew of Scriptures but for that each of them doth reserve the interpretation of Scripture to themselves and thereby teacheth new Doctrin contrary to that which was received generally in the known Church before them to whose judgment and interpretation they will not yield themselves Hereof it followed that the indictment of Heresie lyeth truly and justly against them and that they were worthily Condemned and Burned for this Pride self-will and obstinacy But on the contrary side against the Catholics that died for the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the Pope none of these Accusations can justly be laid for that they do neither stand upon their own judgment nor have invented any thing of new nor do adhere to their own Interpretations or Exposition of Scriptures but being accused do make their Plea and Defence far otherwise to wit that they found this Doctrin of the Popes Supremacy in use and practice before they were born as a thing received from Age to Age by the known Catholic Church time out of mind that they see all Christian Kingdoms and Princes to have embraced the same and General Councils to have allowed thereof That the Texts and Examples of Scripture alledged for the proof of this Article and all others whereon they stand are not inventions of their own but so expounded by Ancient Fathers and uniform consent of the Catholic Church that all our Christian English Kings from our first Conversion unto King Henry the Eighth acknowledged this Spiritual Authority of the Bishop of Rome and King Henry himself defended the same most earnestly with his own Pen not many years before against Luther and Lutherans That it is not a thing devised but delivered as Tertullian said of the Catholic Faith and therefore if any point thereof were to
be altered it must be done by the same Authority by which it was delivered to them to wit by the whole Church Councils and General Pastors thereof 26. This was the Defence and Pleading of Catholics under King Henry the Eighth to excuse themselves from Treason objected against them for holding the Popes Supremacy wherein you see divers notorious differences between the Defence of the Sectaries and them for that amongst the Sectaries every one held what himself thought best of things invented by themselves every one cited Scriptures and interpreted them as he listed without Authority President or Example of former Ages and consequently they are justly called Heretics that is to say choosers For that they chose to themselves what to believe in every Sect and reduced the last and final resolution of all things to their own Wills and Wits which in matters of belief is the highest Crime that against God and his Church can be committed 27. But on the other side the state and condition of the Catholics and their cause is quite opposite to this for that they stick to Authority Obedience Integrity Example of their Ancestors they bring nothing of their own they invent or innovate nothing They stand only upon that which they have found Established to them not by this or that Man or by this or that Author of any Sect or by this or that particular Congregation fellowship or Faction or by this or that Town City Province Kingdom or Country but generally by the whole universal Church and Pastors thereof and therefore properly and truly are called Catholics which is to say Vniversal and general 28. And this shall suffice to shew the difference between the Catholic Martyrs and Heretical Malefactors put to death in King Henries time whereof yet we shall Treat more largely in the third part of this Treatise where we are to handle the particular Stories of Fox his Calendar-Martyrs and to compare and paralell them with ours shewing that yet never Dogs and Cats nor yet Sampsons Foxes did ever so disagree in natures and conditions as these good Martyrs did in Faction and contrariety of opinions amongst themselves and consequently could not be Martyrs or witnesses of any one Faith whatsoever 29. And with this also will we end the Discourse of King Henries Life having sufficiently shewed as to me it seemeth that the Catholic Religion held her footing and continuance also under ther Reign of this King no less perhaps than before yea she shewed her self much more to the World by the Persecution which then she suffered than before in the time of peace for that the Famous and Illustrious Martyrdoms of such excellent Men as were Bishop Fisher Sir Thomas More Dr. Forest and many other such Worthies that suffered Martyrdom in those days did more Illustrate her and made extern Nations to talk more of the Zeal and Constancy of English Catholics than ever they would have done if that Persecution had not fallen out and the like success hath happened since both under King Edward the Sixth and her Majesty that now is as briefly we shall here declare 30. And as for King Edwards Reign as it was but short and the first passage from Catholic Religion to open Profession of Heresie So was it not so sharp for effusion of Blood as under King Henry For that the King being very young and those that Governed in his Name not thorowly settled in their States and Affairs troubled also with much Division and Emulation among themselves could not attend to prosecute matters so exactly against Catholics as some of their desires and Appetites were yet began they very well as we may see by the most unjust Persecutions and Deprivations of two principal Bishops Gardiner of Winchester and Bonner of London by such violent Calumnious manner as was proper for Heretics to use The particulars whereof John Fox doth set down at large whereby a Man may take a taste what they meant to have done if they had had time For that Cranmer and Ridley that had been Bishops in King Henries time and followed his Religion and humor while he lived being now also resolved to enjoy the Preferment and Sensuality of this time so far as any way they might attain unto getting Authority into their hands by the Protector and others that were in most Power began to lay lustily about them and to pull down all them both of the Clergy and others whom they thought to be able or likely to stand in their way or resist their inventions 31. And hereupon divers were laid hands on and Imprisoned divers fled over Seas sundry most Captious and Calumnious Questions and Demands were devised to entangle Men As Namely Whether a King of one year old were not as truly a King as at Forty or Fifty which if you did grant concerning the Title and Right of his Crown which is true then presently they inferred that King Edward being but Nine years old wanting yet discretion might also be lawful Head of the Church and determine Controversies of Religion yea change the Faith and Religion which his Father and all his Ancestors Kings and Princes of England all Parliaments Synods and Councils before his days had left unto him for the space of a Thousand years and more And albeit he had not sufficient judgment to understand what Religion meant yet was he made judge thereof by vertue of his Birth and Succession to the Crown And this Point was wonderfully urged by the Protector Seymor to all Preachers Prelats and Bishops of that time that they should inculcate the same to the people in their Sermons to the end that himself taking all the said Child Kings Authority upon him might be Head and Judge in his place Whereunto that he might seem the more fit and able for his excellent learning John Bale the Apostata Friar that lived under him was not ashamed to Publish in Print and place him for a Learned Author amongst his Illustrious British Writters for that some Proclamations perhaps passed by his hands tho' otherwise he was known to be so unlearned as he could scarce Write or Read. 32. But yet as I said this Doctrin or rather Paradox of the Child Kings supereminent ability high Authority and Supreme Ecclesiastical Power to determin alter change and dispose of matters of Religion at his pleasure tho' he were but of one year old was sounded in Pulpits every where at this time whereof Sir John Cheke the Kings School-master amongst others Wrote a several Treatise besides the large Message sent in the Kings Name but of his Writing to the Catholic people of Devonshire as after shall be shewed The same also was objected grievously against Bishop Gardiner and Bishop Bonner by Name that they had not in their Sermons appointed unto them by the Protector so sufficiently urged this Point of the Kings Ecclesiastical Power in his Nonage as was required And this especially for that the people in
make this little Boy legitimate and prove his Mother to be no Whore 44. And of this I might give infinit Examples out of John Fox what substantial grounds and motives many of his Martyrs had to run to the Fire or rather how without all ground or probable reason in the world but only wilful Pride and Obstinacy most of them thrust themselves to death no less than in old times did the Massilians Montanists Circumcellians and Martyrians most famous Heretics upon the like madness as after we are to shew more at large in the third Part where I am to treat of these matters more particularly and to give you if I be not deceived large matters of laughter or rather of compassion in this behalf Now this shall be sufficient to shew both the great number and respective quality of domestical Witnesses for the Catholic Faith and continuance thereof in our Countrey during the time of this sharp Persecution under her Majesty and that never more than in this time hath the Catholic Church been perspicuous honorable and eminent in our Realm which is altogether contrary to that which John Fox ascribeth to his Church whose Invisibility Obscurity and lurking from the eyes of men he both granteth and excuseth by the presence of Persecution against her whereas we hold on the other side that the true Church and consequently Ours is ever more visible and notoriously known in time of Affliction and Persecution than in Peace 45. And so we have shewed by Example of our English Church especially in this present Age wherein not only domestical sufferings at home have come by Fame Books and Writings to the knowledge of Foreign Nations and thereby also the notice of so many worthy constant Catholics that are within the Realm but whole Troops also both of English Men and Women in Exile for their Consciences do represent the same daily to their eyes as it were by a lively spectacle to the wonder of the Christian World. But above all the rest they must needs be greatly moved with the sight of whole Companies Families and Communities of English of both Sexes of tender Age and those for the most part of very principal good Birth and Parentage that have come forth of our Countrey for the love of Religion and lived with great Edification in other Nations partly in Colleges and Seminaries partly in Religious Convents and Monasteries yielding great admiration to strangers for their rare Vertues of Piety Patience Contentment and Devotion And as for Colledges and Seminaries those of St. Omers and Doway in Flanders of Rhemes in France of Rome in Italy of Valliadolid Sevill and St. Lucars in Spain and of Lisbon in Portugal do sufficiently testifie And as for Monasteries both of Men and Women they are not unknown as that venerable Company of English Carthusians in Mechlyn the honorable Religious Houses of English Noble and Gentlewomen in Bruxells Lovain and Lisbon whose rare Vertues do singularly edifie all those that know them and greatly illustrate the Name of our Countrey for Religious Piety with Foreign Nations All these I say do bear witness at this day to the whole World and to us also that God be thanked the fire and fervor of Catholic Religion which Christ came to plant upon Earth is not extinguished by so long and grievous Persecution in our Countrey but rather increased at least in Intention as Philosophers do speak tho' not in Extension 46. And truly when I consider the matter more seriously with my self I doubt much whether England if it had continued Catholic had ever enjoy'd such excellent Education for their Youth at home as by occasion of this Tribulation God hath given them abroad in Foreign Nations Certainly the Example is rare and never heard of in former times and at this day the like is seen in few other Nations besides Us but in none of those that have suffered for Catholic Religion is this Blessing found so abundantly as in Ours God make us grateful for it for if our Ingratitude turn not the course of his Mercies hitherto used towards us it seemeth evident that he will not suffer the Seed of Catholic Religion to be extinguished in England having conserved the same so potently and strangely unto this day which is from the first preaching of the Apostles and Apostolic-men to the Britans unto the time of Pope Gregory I. under whom our English Nation was converted as hath been declared and from thence again downward unto Us which is more than a thousand years and so I doubt not but he will to the Worlds end if our sins deserve not the contrary And this shall serve for this first Part containing the Deduction and Continuance of Catholic Religion in England without interruption for more than fifteen hundred years together Now will we pass to the second Part to examin the same Succession in Protestants Religion throughout all these Ages if it may be found making our Conclusion as after you shall see That as our Religion entred first and hath never left England unto this hour so the Religion of John Fox in the form that he would have it was never yet admitted into England publicly by any Prince or Potentate whatsoever until this present day nor ever like to be And this shall serve for the first Part of our Treatise The End of the First Part. The Second PART of this TREATISE CONTAINING The SEARCH after the Protestants Church From the beginning of Christendom to Our Days The ARGUMENT HAving declared in the former Part of this Treatise how the Faith of Christ was first preached to the Britans at two several times and then to the English Nation and all by Roman Preachers and that the same Faith hath continued from Age to Age in a visible conspicuous Church until our days there remaineth now that we examin in this second Part Where the Protestants Church was in all this time and whether they had any at all And if they had of what sort of men it consisted and whether it were the same with the Church before-described or partly the same partly different or whether they could stand together being opposite in any one point of Faith Moreover whether the one did persecute the other or might be reconciled or agreed together And finally what is the state of the one and the other at this day For examination of which points we shall have occasion to run over again with more advice all the former sixteen Ages from Christ downward and therein to see and consider What Church either flourished or prevailed throughout every Age either Ours or that of John Fox and which of them is likeliest to have come down from the Apostles As also Whether that Church which was visibly founded by the Apostles and put on foot by them and theirs could perish or vanish away to give place to another And these are the principal Points of this second Part discussed in the Chapters following
tho' first before we enter into this examination we have thought good to treat certain general Points that make way thereunto as by the next Chapter you shall perceive CHAP. I. Of how to great Importance Ecclesiastical Succession is for trial of true Religion and how Sectaries have sought to fly the force thereof by saying That the Church is invisible How fond a shift this is and how foolishly John Fox doth behave himself therein THE Sentence of the Philosopher is known to all That contraries being laid together do give light the one to the other as white and black proposed in one Table do make each colour more clear distinct and lively in it self For which respect we having laid open before in the first Part of this Discourse the known manifest Succession of Christian Religion in our Isle of England first from the Apostles times among the Britans for the first six Ages after Christ and then again among the English-men for nine Ages more since their first Conversion from Paganism we are now to examin what manner of visible Succession John Fox doth bring us forth of his Church that is to say of the Protestants of his Religion for the said 1500 years or fifteen Ages if any such be for that by this comparison of the One with the Other the Nature and Condition of both Churches will be understood But yet first I mean to note by the way certain principal points to be considered for better understanding of all that is to be handled in this Chapter or about this whole matter of Ecclesiastical Succession 2. Whereof the first may be that which I have touched in the end of the former Chapter to wit of how great importance this point is I mean the Succession and Continuation of Teachers the one conform to the other in matter of Belief and Religion for clear demonstration of Truth in matters of Controversie and for staying any discreet man's judgment from wavering hither and thither in his belief according to that which holy St. Augustin said of himself and felt in himself For that considering the great diversity of Sects that swarm'd in his time and every one pretending Truth Antiquity Purity and Authority of Scriptures and himself also having been misled by one of these Sects for many years was brought by God at length to be a true Catholic and to feel in himself the force of this visible Succession of the Catholic Church And therefore writing against one that in time past had been his Master as Head of the former Sect wherein he had lived to wit Faustus Manichaeus after divers other reasons alledged of his confidence and assurance of Truth in the Catholic Church and of his firm resolution to live and die in the same he bringeth for his last and strongest reason the perpetual Succession of Bishops in the same Church and especially in the Church of Rome Tenet me in Ecclesia saith he ab ipsa Petri sede usque ad praesentem Episcopatum successio Sacerdotum c. I am held in this Church against all you Sectaries by the Succession of Priests and Bishops that have come down even from the first seat of St. Peter the Apostle to the present Bishop of Rome Anastasius that holdeth the seat at this day c. 3. Lo here the force and estimation of Succession with St. Augustin Whereunto are conform all other ancient Fathers if we would stand to alledge them yea they stand so firmly upon this point and do make so great account of it as they do generally note Heretics and Sectaries for the contrary defect to wit that they have no Succession or orderly continuation either of Bishops or of Faith among them but did leap hither and thither as ours do at this day challenging to themselves now this and now that without either Order Interest Continuation or Succession Ordinem saith St. Augustin ab Apostolo Petro coeptum usque ad hoc tempus per traducem succedentium Episcoporum servatum perturbant ordinem sibi sine origine vendicantes Heretics do trouble and break the order of succeeding of Bishops begun by St. Peter and brought down by Off spring one Bishop succeeding another and so challenge unto themselves a certain Order without beginning 4. To which effect also Tertullian more than 200 years before St. Augustin challenging Heretics to this Combat of Succession said Edant Haeretici origines suarum Ecclesiarum evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum c. Let Heretics set forth the beginning of their Churches let them recount the order of their succeeding Bishops if they can And then having set down for his part and for proof of true Catholic Succession the whole rank of the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to Pope Eleutherius that lived in his days Mark I pray you the proof he useth tho' he were of the Church of Africa He glorieth as tho' he brought forth an invincible Argument against all Heretics challenging and provoking them to do the like if they could Consingant saith he tale aliquid Haeretici Let Heretics bring forth or devise any such things for proof of their Church if they can And consider here gentle Reader how Heretics remain confounded by Tertullian's judgment for want of Succession 5. But this is not only Tertullian's Opinion for St. Irenaeus before him again objecteth the same to Heretics against whom he wrote saying Obedire oportet eis qui successionem habent ab Apostolis qui cum Episcopatus successione charismata veritatis acceperunt You ought to obey these who have their Succession from the Apostles who together with the Succession of their Bishoprics have received from time to time the gifts or privileges of Truth And in another place Apud quas est ea quae est ab Apostolis successio hi fidem nostram custodiunt scripturas sine periculo nobis exponunt With whom the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles time downwards is found to have remained these are they who conserve our Faith and do expound the Scripture unto us without danger Behold the vertue of Succession which this blessed Bishop and Martyr St. Irenaeus esteemed so highly in his days as he ascribed thereto both the infallible Conservation of Faith and true Exposition of Scriptures 6. And it is to be noted that he speaketh not only of Succession in Belief as every one of our Sectaries will seem to pretend that they have it among themselves from the Apostles which yet is ridiculous and manifestly false as before hath been declared and after shall be more in particular but he speaketh expresly also of the external Succession and Continuation of Bishops ascribing to them and proving by them the Succession of one and the self-same Faith And to that end doth he number up all the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to his time as Tertullian before-alledged did notwithstanding the one lived in France and the other in Africa proving
by that Succession of Roman Bishops the true Succession of one and the self-same Catholic Faith to have endured not only in these several Countreys but also over all Christendom and that from Christ to those times esteeming this to be a most invincible Proof and certain Demonstration or to use St. Irenaeus his own words plenissimam ostensionem a most full probation against all Heretics whatsoever 7. According to which Principle and sure Foundation all other Fathers also that have ensued since from Age to Age have stood very resolutely upon this point of Succession against the Heretics of their times Brevem saith St. Hierom apertamque animi mei sententiam proferam in illa esse Ecclesia permanendum quae ab Apostolis fundata usque ad diem hanc durat I will utter briefly my sentence and judgment we must abide in that Church which being founded by the Apostles hath endured unto this day As if he had said We must be and abide in that Church which as it was visibly founded and spread over the World by the Apostles Preaching so it hath visibly been continued under her Bishops and Teachers unto this day Which sentence of his St. Augustin that lived with him tho' somewhat younger confirmeth in these words Dubitabimus nos illius Ecclesiae considere gremio quae ab Apostolica sede per Successiones Episcoporum frustra haereticis circumlatrantibus culmen Authoritatis obtinuit Shall we doubt still to rest in the lap of that Church which hath kept continually the height of her Authority by Succession of Bishops from the See-Apostolic unto this day notwithstanding the vain barking of Heretics on every side of her 8. Thus said St. Augustin of the visible Church in his days which had not continued much more than 400 years But what would he say if he liv'd in our days after almost 1200 years Succession more since he wrote this when he should hear far greater and more spiteful barking of Heretics against the same than he heard in his days tho' then also he heard much and much of that which we hear now But if St. Augustin should live now again there is no doubt of one thing which is that he would make this his Argument of Succession far more strong against our Heretics and esteem it so much the more by how much the Power of Christ hath shewed it self more Omnipotent in continuing the same since for so many Ages more after him amidst so many troubles and turmoils changes and alterations of Empires and Kingdoms and Temporal States as before we have noted And if in England we can number above seventy Archbishops of Canterbury all of one Religion the one succeeding the other since our first Conversion by St. Augustin our Apostle not to speak any thing of the British Church before us as you may see confessed by Cambden and other new heretical Writers of our own and that this English Church was the same in Faith and Belief with the British as before hath been shewed and both of them one with the Roman and General Church from the very beginning to this time what an Antiquity is this and how clear and evident a Succession And how would St. Augustin urge this Argument against our Protestants if he were now alive again 9. Sure I am that if any one Baron Earl or Duke in England could shew but the half of these years for the continuance and possession of any Temporal State Lordship or Land in England he would highly esteem thereof and thereby make a glorious defence against any wrangling Companion that should presume to pretend the same and deprive him thereof if he could truly say and prove as we do in the Cause of our Church that his Ancestors for 1300 years together had continued in that possession But no man can prescribe any such time in temporal matters and therefore are they well called Temporal for that they change in a little time And he that will read the foresaid Cambden's Story towards the end of every English Shire where he taketh upon him to recount the Earls or Dukes that have had their States and Titles over that Shire he shall see such a broken Succession in those States and Signories as it is pitiful to behold no Dukedom or Earldom continuing lightly three or four Generations together in any one Name or Family And this is the frailty and uncertainty of human things 10. But for matters of Religion appertaining to the Soul Almighty God hath given another manner of force unto Succession both of Men and Faith. As for example in the Law of Nature he made the same to endure by only Tradition without Writing for more than 2500 years under the ancient Patriarchs before and after the Flood of Noe. And afterward again in the written Law the Jews continued the possession of their Religion by Succession of Bishops and Ecclesiastical Governors from Moses unto Christ above 1500 years notwithstanding all varieties of times and calamities And no less from Christ to our Age hath he continued the same in a much more glorious sort and manner In which latter time of Christian Religion to speak only of this for the present so many mutations have been made both in the Roman Empire it self and all other Realms and Kingdoms round about us as all men know and may be seen in Histories And yet hath the Succession of the Catholic Church and Pastors thereof together with the Union of Faith therein taught been most miraculously conserved amongst all these tossings and turmoils breaches and divisions of Temporal Kingdoms which could never have been but by the Omnipotent Hand of our Savior that hath defended it especially considering withal the great multitude of Sects and Heresies that from time to time have risen and attempted to impugn the same but could never prevail And this is sufficient for this first and principal point of the vertue and force of Ecclesiastical Succession 11. The second point to be considered is That when Luther's new Religion began and could alledge no Successors of Bishops or ancient Teachers for it self but was much pressed with this other of the Catholics he devised a certain notorious and ridiculous shift to say that the true Church was invisible to the eye of man and only seen by God and consequently had no need of any visible or external Succession of Men. And this shift of his is discovered by that he writeth both against Erasmus and Catharinus and in his wicked Treatise de abroganda Missa privata for taking away private Masses where having had Conference with the Devil as himself confesseth he asketh very stoutly Who can shew us the Church seeing she is secret and to be believed only in Spirit To whom if any man would oppose S. Aug. that saith digito ostendimus Ecclesiam we can shew the Church with our finger should not Luther be well match'd think you 12. The like held
their Authority what Succession bring they down by imposition of hands from the Apostles time may not every Sect of Heretics make themselves Christ's Church by this device Wherefore of this second point there need to be said no more 20. There remaineth then a third point to be considered by the Reader before we come to set down the Succession of John Fox's Church who having considered with himself that both Luther and Calvin did hold it to be invisible and on the other side that divers chief Lutherans had changed their Opinions therein and held it to be visible especially Flaccus Illyricus and the rest of the Magdeburgians who were to write a whole Story of their own visible Church in their Centuries and Fox to follow them step by step therein in his English Acts and Monuments the poor man was brought to a very great perplexity forasmuch as on the one side to leave Luther but especially Calvin seemed very hard unto him and on the other side not to stick to the Magdeburgians that are his Masters in his Story seemed hard also But especially and above all was he troubled as it seemeth with the reason and necessity of the matter it self for if the Church of Christ be invisible how can Fox or the Magdeburgians write so great and large stories thereof To which effect Illyricus writing upon the Genealogy set down by St. Matthew's Gospel of the true Church from the beginning saith thus Ostendit ista series Ecclesiam Religionem veram habere certas historias suae originis progressus This Genealogy proveth that the true Church and Religion have assured Histories of their beginning and progress 21. Thus said Illyricus for that he and his Fellows were then in hand as hath been said with their Ecclesiastical Histories named Centuries which they could not well have written holding the Church to be invisible neither yet John Fox could begin so great a Volume with that Opinion Wherefore after much breaking his brains about this matter as it seemeth he cometh forth with a new Opinion never heard of perhaps before affirming that the true Church of Christ is both visible and invisible to wit visible to some and invisible to others visible to them that are in her and invisible to them that are out of her You shall hear his words 22. Altho' saith he the right Church of God be not so invisible in the World that none can see it yet neither is it so visible again that every worldly eye may perceive it for like as is the nature of Truth so is the proper condition of the true Church that commonly none seeth it but such only as be members and partakers thereof and therefore they which require that God's holy Church should be evident and visible to the whole World seem to define the great Synagogue of the World rather than the true spiritual Church of God. 23. Thus saith he wherein you see that he maketh the true Church visible but only to such as are in her and Members thereof A device I think never heard of before and fit for the Brains of John Fox which were known to be out of tune for many years before he died for if he do not trifle and equivocate meaning one-where internal Visibility by Faith and another-where external Visibility to the Eye but doth mean indeed as he should do and as the Controversie is meant of external visibility to man's eye then is it most ridiculous that none can see the true Church in this World but he that is a Member of her for she is to be seen as well to her Enemies and Adversaries as to her Friends and Children the One to impugn and fight against her the Other to acknowledge and obey her And I would for examples sake demand of John Fox Whether Herod and Nero that persecuted the true visible Church of Christ were of that Church or no For if they were not then by his sentence they could not see her and consequently not persecute her 24. His comparison also between Truth and the true Church doth not hold for that Truth is a spiritual thing to be seen only by the eye of our Understanding but the true Church consisting of visible Men and Women may be seen by man's eye tho' the truth thereof to wit whether this or that visible Congregation be the true Church of Christ is a matter of Understanding and Belief confirmed unto us by such Arguments as before we have recited and others So as albeit the aforesaid Persecutors Herod and Nero for Example did not see the Truth of that Church which they persecuted in respect of their Doctrin for then perhaps they would not have done it yet did they both see and know that this was Christ's visible Church to wit a Congregation professing his Name and Doctrin yea they might know further that it was his true Church seeing it was begun visibly and evidently by him and his Apostles in their days and so continued on without interruption and if they had further known and believed as we do that he had promised to maintain and defend this Church unto the worlds end then must they either have doubted of his Fidelity or Power to perform it or must have believed also that this Church could not fail whereof Protestants doubting must needs doubt also of the one or the other to wit of the Fidelity and of the Ability of our Savior to perform his promise And this is the force of Succession even with Enemies and Infidels 25. But now let us pass to the principal matter intended in this Chapter which is the Succession or Deduction of the Protestants Church promised by John Fox in his Acts and Monuments Wherein saith he is set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church from the Primitive to these latter times of ours c. Thus he promiseth in the Title but how he doth perform it in his whole Book we shall see afterward in this Declaration Tho' in part we may perceive his drift by that he protesteth to the Church of England before his entrance into his Story in these words I have taken in hand saith he this History that as other Story-Writers heretofore have employ'd their travail to magnifie the Church of Rome so in this History might appear the Image of both Churches but especially of the poor oppressed and persecuted Church of Christ which tho' it hath been so long trodden under foot by Enemies neglected in the World not regarded in Histories and almost scarce visible and known to worldly eyes yet hath it been the true Church only of God wherein he hath mightily wrought hitherto in preserving the same in all extreme distresses continually stirring up from time to time faithful Ministers by whom always hath been kept some sparks of this true Doctrin and Religion And forsomuch as the true Church of God goeth not lightly alone but is accompanied with some
Church throughout the World Were they His or Our Martyrs think you For to both of us they cannot be Martyrs that is to say Witnesses we being of a different belief for that we of our part do hold resolutely the saying of St. Athanasius in his Creed That whosoever doth not hold all and every point of the Catholic Faith entirely shall perish eternally If therefore he will say they were his Martyrs he must prove that they were in all and every point of His Religion and not of Ours And to examin this point to wit of what Religion they were whether more of Ours or of His divers considerations may be brought in As first Who of us do more honor them We keep their Days and Feasts as all men know we put them in our Ecclesiastical Calendar and Martyrology we keep their Relics we honor their Tombs we call upon them in Heaven to pray for us as reigning in most high Glory with Christ All which Protestants do mislike yea John Fox by name hath put the most of them I mean of the Martyrs of these first 300 years quite out of his Ecclesiastical Calendar to give place to John Wickliff John Husse Martin Luther and other like Companions as may be seen in the very first pages of his Book which is a sign that we esteem and honor them more than they which we would not do if we did not persuade our selves that they were of our Religion and not of Protestants in any point of Controversie between us 5. Moreover the Christian visible Church of that time to wit of those first 300 years wherein these Martyrs suffered and were put to death would never have registred them for Saints nor admitted them into the number of true Martyrs if in all points they had not been of her Faith and Communion no more than she did those of divers Sects namely of the Marcionists and Montanists who were very many and bragged of Martyrdom and of God's assistance therein no less but much more than true Catholics as Apollinaris a most ancient Bishop related by Eusebius in his fifth Book of Ecclesiastical History doth testifie at large Yea these Heretics especially the latter sort were so forward in Martyrdom as they held it was not lawful to flee in time of Persecution as may appear by Tertullian who defended the same also after he was fallen into that Heresie himself St. Cyprian doth inveigh often against the Martyrs of the Novatians and St. Epiphanius against those of the Euphemits sirnamed for the multitude of their false Martyrs Martyrians and St. Augustin no less earnestly doth detest those Martyrs of the Donatists who rather than they would lack Martyrs were ready to murder themselves All which Martyrs notwithstanding were rejected by the Catholic Church tho' in shew they died for Christ for that they agreed not with her in all points of Faith and Belief And consequently we may infer for most certain that seeing the Catholic Church of that time and of all times since hath held these Martyrs before mentioned of the first ten Persecutions for true Saints and Martyrs indeed and have continued their honorable remembrance both by Histories and celebrating their annual Feasts and Memories sure it is that they agreed fully with the said known Catholic Church of those Ages Whereof we infer again That seeing the Faith of those first 300 years was continued as before we have proved in the second 300 years and so consequently downward and delivered to us and forasmuch as the Church of Rome was held still for Head of all this Church it cannot be that these Martyrs were of John Fox's Religion and consequently are to no purpose brought in by him but only for that he had nothing else to talk of or to make a shew of handling some pious matter in his Book 6. Moreover if we would take upon us to reflect upon all that is extant of the sayings and doings of these Martyrs recorded in their Histories we might soon discern of what Religion they were and whether they were John Fox his Martyrs or Ours As for example in that Answer of St. Andrew the Apostle and holy Martyr which he made to Aegeas the Proconsul that exhorted him to sacrifice to Idols Ego saith he Omnipotenti Deo qui unus verus est immolo quotidie c. I do sacrifice daily to Almighty God that is One and True not the flesh of Bulls or blood of Goats but the immaculate Lamb upon the Altar whose flesh after that all the Faithful People have eaten the same Lamb that is sacrificed remaineth whole and alive as before This man as you see spoke not as a Protestant Martyr 7. The Speech also of St. Laurence Martyr that suffered in Rome under the Emperor Valerianus the same year that St. Cyprian did in Carthage his Speech I say to Pope Sixtus Bishop of Rome whose Deacon he was and who was carry'd to Martyrdom three days before him doth not shew that he was a Protestant but rather a plain Papist as both St. Ambrose St. Augustin and other later Authors do relate the same Cùm videret Laurentius saith St. Ambrose Sixtum Episcopum suum ad Martyrium duci flere coepit c. When Laurence the Deacon saw his Bishop Sixtus to be carried away to Martyrdom he began to weep not for the others suffering but for his own remaining behind him wherefore he cried unto him in these words Whither do you go O Father without your Son and whither do you hasten O holy Priest without your Deacon You were never wont to offer Sacrifice without a Minister what then hath displeased you in me that you leave me behind you Have you proved me perhaps to be a Coward Make trial I pray you whether you have chosen unto your self a fit Minister to whom you have committed the dispensing of our Lord's Blood And then seeing you have not denied unto me the Fellowship of administring Sacraments do not deny me the Fellowship of shedding my Blood also with you 8. Thus talked St. Laurence of his Deacon's Office in dispensing the Blood of Christ from the Altar and in ministring to his Bishop while he offered Sacrifice which is a phrase far different from Protestants manner of Speech But if we consider the Speech of the Heathen Emperour to St. Laurence set down by Aurelius Prudentius above 1200 years past objecting to Christian Priests their sacrificing in Gold and dispensing the Blood of our Savior in silver Cups and the like we shall easily see of what Religion this Martyr was Hunc esse vestris Orgiis Mor émque artem proditum est Hanc disciplinam foederis Libent ut auro Antistites Argenteis scyphis ferunt Fumare sacrum sanguinem Auróque nocturnis sacris Astare fixos caereos c. We hear saith the Persecutor this to be the fashion and device of your Feasts and
discipline of your Confederation that your Bishops must sacrifice in Gold and dispense Blood in Silver Cups and that in your Night-Vigils you have Waxen Torches in Golden Candlesticks c. And thus much of St. Laurence whose Persecutor speaketh like a perfect Protestant which is an Argument that himself was none 9. Now as for the other glorious Martyr and Bishop St. Cyprian who suffered under the same Emperour and in the same year that Pope Sixtus and St. Laurence did as appears by Pontius his Deacon that lived with him we have shewed before that the Magdeburgians do reprehend him sharply I mean St. Cyprian for this very point about offering Sacrifice for that he saith Sacerdotem vice Christi fungi Deo Patri sacrificium offerre lib. 2. ep 3. That the Priest doth perform the Office of Christ and offereth Sacrifice to God the Father So as now we have here three Massing or Sacrificing Priests which is the highest Crime objected to Priests now in England and a Massing Deacon that helpeth to Mass and all four most glorious Martyrs within these first 300 years to wit St. Andrew the Apostle by his own Confession St. Sixtus Bishop of Rome by the testimony of St. Laurence St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage by the accusation of the Magdeburgians and St. Laurence the Deacon by testimony of Prudentius St. Ambrose and others And it were over-long to pass any further in this examination for that the Examples would be infinite this be-being sufficient to shew how little it maketh for John Fox his purpose to have brought in this so large and particular a story of all the Martyrs of the first ten Persecutions they being so opposite to his late Protestant Martyrs as they are 10. Well then this is sufficient for these Martyrs But what shall we say to the whole intent and drift of John Fox which should have been as you know to lay before us the continual descent throughout these first three Ages of his poor oppressed and persecuted and yet the only true Church of Christ almost scarce visible or known to worldly eyes c This I say he should have shewed and laid open to us for that we find no other Christian Church known in the World in these first 300 years but only One which tho' it were much persecuted yet was it neither obscure nor hidden from the eyes either of good or bad but most visible and apparent to all the World. And in the end of these 300 years to wit under Constantine the Emperour and Silvester the Pope of Rome the same came to be so magnificent and glorious as all the World remained astonished thereat which appeareth partly by that which Eusebius and all other Ecclesiastical Writers do recount in the Life of the said Constantine especially Eusebius that wrote four whole Books of the said Constantine's Life and Actions who was a most excellent Christian Emperour And amongst other points of his most pious Devotion it is recorded that he builded four goodly Churches within the City of Rome carrying Earth to the first Foundation of them with his own hands and adorning them with holy Images endowing the same with rich Possessions Furniture and Ecclesiastical Ornaments and consecrated precious Vessels for Divine Service dedicating the one of them which was his own Palace of Lateran unto our Savior and St. John Baptist the other to St. Peter the third to St. Paul and the fourth to St. Laurence all which do remain unto this day and the very manner of building thereof with their Altars Fonts Pictures and other such-like Antiquities do well shew without Books what manner of Religion was then in use 11. This was the known visible Church then of Christians in those days as glorious and renowned as can be imagined Of which Church one wrote at that time to Constantine himself thus Quis locus in terra est c What place is there in the whole Earth which hath not received the Faith of Christ either where the Sun riseth or where it falleth where the North-Pole is elevated or where the South all is filled with the Majesty of this God. The same writeth Optatus Concedite Deo c. Yield this unto Christ who is God that his Garden spread it self over all the World Can you deny unto him now but that Christians do possess both East West North and South as also the Provinces of innumerable Islands And the same hath St. Basil in his 72d and 75th Epistle and the like St. Hilary lib. 6. de Trinitate This then was the greatness of this Universal Catholic Church at that day and of this Church were counted the head Bishops for all these 300 years the Popes and Bishops of Rome as appeareth by the deductions made by Irenaeus Tertullian and others before mentioned and in this Church was held to be all Catholic Truth and none out of it Which being so I would gladly know what poor obscure trodden-down Church neglected in the World not regarded in Histories and almost scarce visible or known which yet he saith to be the only true Church of God can John Fox find us out in these first 300 years especially seeing he saith also that it must be different from the Church of Rome as from the Devil's Chappel and that it must come down from the Apostles time and always hold some sparkles of true Doctrin 12. For Example or Proof whereof notwithstanding he mentioneth no one Man Woman or Child that was of that Church in all these 300 years and consequently he driveth us to imagin or seek out who they are that made up this obscure Church of his different and opposite to the Roman And I can find none except the known Heretics of these first three Ages to whom the description of his Church may easily agree for first none will deny but that albeit they were many in number as Simon Magus and his Followers the Nicolaits Cerynthians Ebionites Menandrians Saturnians in the first Age Basilidians Gnosticks Cerdonists Marcionists Valentinians Encratites Montanists and others in the second Age as also Helchesits Novatians Sabellians Manichees and many more in the third Age and that in divers Countries and Provinces they had their Followers their Churches their Assemblies under the name of Reformed Christians Elect People and men of more perfection than the rest yet in respect of the glorious Catholic Church that shined throughout the World they were just as John Fox describeth his People here to wit a poor oppressed and persecuted Church c. Oppressed by force of Truth and persecuted by the famous Writings of Catholic Doctors against them as after the Apostles themselves St. Ignatius Justinus Martyr St. Dionyse of Corinth St. Polycarp Irenaeus Clem. Alexandrinus Tertullian Origen Cyprian Ammonius Pamphilus Arnobius and others They were persecuted also by the Excommunications and spiritual Censures of all Catholic Bishops throughout the World but especially by the
Popes of Rome from St. Peter to Pope Silvester which were Thirty-three in number all Martyrs and every one of them condemned the Heretics of his time 13. This accursed new Church also of Heretics had the other quality ascribed in like manner by John Fox to his Church to wit that they were neglected in the Christian World and not regarded in Stories but only to recount them to their shame and damnation Finally the last commendation also was not wanting to them that they were almost scarce visible or known in respect of the flourishing Catholic Church And lastly these congregations and swarms of Heretics tho' never so much divided among themselves continued indeed from the Apostles by a kind of broken Succession of times the one rising and the other falling And they had the last point also specified by John Fox of keeping some sparks of true Doctrin in Religion for that as St. Augustin writeth Nulla falsa Doctrina est quae aliqua Vera non intermisceat There is no Doctrin so false which doth not interlace some true things And this is proper to Heresies for that otherwise if they had no points of true Doctrin they should be rather Apostates than properly Heretics for that Apostates are those that deny all Christ's Doctrin but Heretics do grant some parts and deny others 14. About which point of old Heretics and their Affinity with the Protestants of this Age it is worth the noting That whatsoever some of our late English Writers especially the Minister O. E. or Matthew Sutcliff do prattle to the contrary yet shall you never find any one Article of those that are in controversie and held by us at this day against the Protestants to have been held singularly by any one old Heretic in that sense as we do hold the same and much less condemn'd for Heresie in him or them by the Church in these days or by any one Father thereof And on the other side you shall find divers Doctrins held by them and condemn'd in them by the Church for Heresies I mean the Heretics of the first 300 years which the Protestants do hold at this day properly and in the same sense that those Heretics did And We do condemn the same for Heresies in Them as the Primitive Church did in the Other As for Example that of the Pseudo-Apostoli Heretics called false Apostles who did think only Faith to be sufficient to Salvation without Works against which Heresie St. Augustin saith were written the Epistles of St. James St. Jude St. Peter and St. John. 15. That other point also which St. Ignatius reporteth of certain Heretics in his time Qui non confitebantur Eucharistiam esse Carnem Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi quae pro peccatis nostris passa est Who did not confess that the Eucharist was the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ that suffered for us That other Doctrin in like manner that Theodoretus writeth of the Novatians His qui ab ipsis tinguntur sacrum Chrisma non praebent quocirca eos qui ex hac haeresi Corpori Ecclesiae conjunguntur benedicti Patres ungi jusserunt To those that are baptized by them the Novatians they do not give holy Chrism for which cause whosoever returning from that Heresie are to be joyned to the Body of the Catholic Church the holy Fathers commanded that they should be anointed with the said Chrism 16. Cornelius also Bishop of Rome complaineth that the said Novatus and Novatians did not receive the Sacrament of Confirmation For speaking of Novatus he saith Qui sigillo Domini ab Episcopo non signatus fuit quomodo quaeso Sanctum Spiritum adeptus est He that was not signed with the Seal of our Lord by the Bishop how could he think you obtain the Holy Ghost The same Heretics also deny'd the power of absolving from sin in Priests as also Confession and Satisfaction according as the same holy Bishop and Pope Cornelius objecteth unto him by the testimony of St. Cyprian And finally to go no further within these first 300 years St. Hierom objecteth for an Heresie to the Manichees the denying of Man's Free-will saying Manichaeorum Dogma est hominum damnare naturam liberum auferre arbitrium It is the Doctrin of the Manichees to condemn Man's Nature and to take away Free-will So saith St. Hierom and St. Chrysostom and St. Augustin do also testifie the same of the Manichees expresly And tho' perhaps the Manichees held that Doctrin upon other grounds than Protestants do yet in the Heresie it self they do plainly symbolize and agree 17. These are matters then most evident and clear nor can they be deny'd but that these Opinions are held by Protestants at this day in the very same words sense and meaning as they were by the forenamed old Heretics wherein also they were anathematiz'd and condemn'd by the known Catholic Church of these ancient Ages 18. But now when on the contrary side some Sectaries of our time to cure or cover this wound of theirs will needs like Apes object to us again That we hold some old condemned Errors and Heresies also or rather some shadow or similitude thereof you shall ever find one of these two frauds or falshoods in their Objection to wit that either they object unto us that which we indeed hold not at all or at least not in the sense which they object it or that the thing in truth is no Error in it self nor ever was held or condemned for such in the sense and meaning in which we hold it tho' it may have some little external similitude with that which was an Error As for Example O. E. objecteth unto us That we do symbolize and participate with two old Heresies the one of the Angelici qui Angelos adorabant that did adore Angels as St. Augustin saith the other of the Collyridians so called of the Greek word Collyra signifying a little triangular Cake or Bun that those Heretics being Women did offer in Sacrifice to our Blessed Lady But in both these Examples we utterly deny that we agree in Doctrin or Practice with those Heretics seeing that we neither adore nor worship with Divine Honor Angels or other Saints nor do offer Sacrifice to the Mother of God but only to God himself alone tho' in the Honor and Memory also of his Mother and other Saints glorified by him which Doctrin of ours is extant in all our Books So as here is manifestly found the first fraud of our Adversaries which is to object to us that which we hold not indeed 19. And the other falshood also cannot be deny'd whereby they affirm the Doctrin which we truly hold and practise in this behalf about honoring of Saints to have been at any time held for Error or condemn'd by the ancient Catholic Church or Teachers thereof for such Truth it is that the Magdeburgians are not asham'd to note this
respect of obscurity and contemptibility John Fox may easily joyn his Church with them as also in having some sparkles of true Doctrin but not the whole body of true Doctrin among them 5. He may joyn also in divers particular Doctrins which these men held as peculiar Heresies to themselves and were condemn'd by the Church for such in those days and are held also in these days by John Fox his Church in the very self-same words sense and meaning as they were held by those Heretics As namely he may joyn with the Donatists who said that thy were the only true Church and called the Succession of Bishops in the Church of Rome as Sectaries do at this day the Chair of Pestilence and moreover that the whole Church besides themselves had erred c. which is the common Song of our modern Protestants And further if you will see how near of Kin these Donatists and our Protestants be both in Manners Conditions Doctrin and Belief read St. Augustin Optatus and other Writers that objected against them these things following to wit That they had cast the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to Dogs overthrew Altars broke Chalices and sold them cast a Bottle of holy Chrism out of the Church-window shaved Priests heads to take away their Unction turned Nuns out of their Monasteries to the World polluted all Church stuff and the like And whether John Fox and his Fellows do not joyn also in these Points let the Reader judge 6. They may joyn in like manner with the Eunomians for their only Faith who affirmed as St. Augustin saith quòd nihil cuiquam obesset guorumlibet perpetratio ac perseverantia peccatorum si hujus quae ab illis docebatur Fidei particeps esset That the committing and perseverance in never so great sins could not hurt him that was partaker of their Faith. They may also joyn with the Novatians of that time in denying the Churches power in forgiving sins They may joyn with the Aerians who taught as St. Angustin saith non oportere orare vel Oblationem offerre pro mortuis that we ought not to pray or offer Oblations for them that be dead and further That solemn Feasts are not to be appointed by the Church but every one to fast when he would lest he should seem to be under the Law c. 7. Thus testifieth St. Augustin of him and of Jovinian that followed him both the said Father and St. Hierom that wrote against him do accuse him to have held That all sins were equal before God that fasting from certain meats was not profitable that chast Marriage was equal in honor and merit to professed Virginity in Nuns and that he had been cause that some Nuns had married in Rome and finally that the reward in Heaven was equal to all men And is not this good currant Protestant Doctrin and Practice at this day But let us go forward They may joyn also with the Helvidians or Antidicomarians in impugning our Blessed Lady and equalling Marriage with Virginity And much more with Vigilantius in impugning the continent sole Life of Clergy-men Worship of Martyrs at their Tombs use of Candles and Torches in the Church by day-time Invocation of Saints Vows of Poverty and the like 8. I will go no further for that this is sufficient to see what Communion John Fox his Church did hold in these three Ages either with the common known Catholic Church of Christ or with these lurking Assemblies of Heretics pursued and persecuted by the said Church and for that John Fox is guilty to himself in this behalf he hath proceeded accordingly in his Acts and Monuments For whereas he promiseth a several Book of these second 300 years under this Title The second Book containing the next 300 years after Christ c. he not finding any sufficient matter for his purpose to patch up this second Book withal as he did the former with recounting the Martyrs of those days what shift deviseth he think you to blear his Readers eyes with all and to seem to say somewhat in the continuation of his Story You shall hear briefly and by this one trick you may learn to know the man and his meaning for the time to come 9. First he writeth but five leaves in all for the continuation of the Story of these second 300 years A short Volume you will say for so great and copious an Argument And yet further you must know that of these five leaves he passeth two in telling tales and matters that fell under Pope Eleutherius and King Lucius more than a hundred years before and consequently it should have been told in his former Book by order of Time and Story and then the other three leaves he spendeth in setting down the entrance of the Saxons into England about the year of Christ 449 and the Succession of their Pagan Kings unto St. Augustin's coming So as of all the foresaid glorious Christian Church for 300 years together to wit from Pope Sylvester and Constantine unto Pope Gregory and Mauritius the Emperour wherein she flourished more than in any other three Ages we find only five Leaves designed but scarce three Lines performed Whereby you may perceive how little part John Fox persuadeth himself to have in these three Ages for his hidden Church You may consider also what an honest Bargainer he is and how well he performeth his promise made in the first page of his whole Work wherein he saith That he will set forth at large the whole Race and Course of the Church from the Primitive Age to these latter times of ours c. whereof you see he hath performed nothing at all hitherto either largely or briefly I mean of this Race or Course of any Church General or Particular Domestical or Foreign Good or Bad True or False His or Ours for of the first 300 years he wrote only the ten Persecutions as you have seen and of the second 300 years he writeth nothing at all 10. Which if you consider well is a strange confession of his own weakness and poverty seeing that these three Ages to wit the fourth fifth and sixth are the most abundant of matter that are to be found in the Church of Christ from the beginning and so might he see by the Centuries of his Masters the Magdeburgians who do enlarge themselves much more in these three Ages than in the former enforced thereunto by the multitude of matter tho' all against themselves as before hath been noted and here will also appear which John Fox well perceiving thought best by slight of silence to avoid that inconvenience of treating a History so apparently against himself Which slight notwithstanding or rather flight every man of mean understanding doth easily see considering that according to the Argument of his Book and particular promise made before he should have declared to us That the Religion of Britanny in these 300
years next before the entrance of St. Augustin was for Him and His Church and not for Ours yea different from the Roman Religion brought in by Augustin as often you have heard him protest and here had been the proper place to have proved it if it had been provable And whereas in the same Protestation of his prefixed before his whole Volume he avouched as you have heard that the chief British Preachers and Teachers of these times before St. Augustin's coming as Fastidius Ninianus Patricius Dubritius Congellus David Asaphus Gildas and others before mentioned were true Teachers and taught the Gospel rightly according to the Protestant Faith and consequently were of his Religion he ought here to have proved the same by their Writings Lives Acts and Monuments as I have shewed the contrary by all these kind of Arguments and Proofs before But the Fox knowing the difficulty and peril of this Combat would not enter into the same nor take upon him to defend or justifie any thing at all tho' never so much promised or protested in his Prefaces and Preambles at the beginning Whereof the Reasons are these that ensue 11. First For that touching the British Church during these three Ages he had in truth nothing at all to write or relate but what would be manifestly against himself if he had written or related it and descended to particulars For according to that you have heard before in divers places of this Treatise that as the first Faith of the Britans came from Rome and thereby they were made Members of the Roman Church from the beginning so remained they united with the same in all points of Faith and Religion except some few abuses crept in among part of them towards the latter-end of these three Ages until the Conversion of the English by St. Augustin to the same Roman Faith. Which point is proved so evidently by so many Signs Arguments and Demonstrations as little comfort might John Fox have to enter into this Discourse or Examination and consequently tho' he had promised in the beginning to treat this Subject of the British Church yet coming to the place and time when he should have performed his promise he thought better to withdraw himself slightly by utter silence than to put himself in Briars by making any mention at all thereof And thus much for his silence concerning the Christian Church of Britanny in these three Ages 12. But for the general Catholic Church of Christendom tho' these times yield abundant matter as hath been said yet the whole stream and current thereof running quite against him he thought best in like manner to decline craftily the medling or wrestling therewith And so much the more for that he had seen the pitiful plight wherein his Masters the Magdeburgians had cast themselves in their fourth fifth and sixth Centuries by over-large relating the Acts and Gests of these three Ages against themselves and their own Religion being forc'd to spend a great part of their Labors not so much in relating what the Fathers of those Ages writ or held as to answer and refute the same and shew that it was not true nor the said Doctors and Fathers to be believed therein Which trouble John Fox like a wily Fox indeed thought best to avoid by Art of Silence I will in this place for examples sake only and to give you a taste of the said Magdeburgians dealing throughout their whole Work from which John Fox taketh the principal parts of his let you see some points taken out of their fourth Century dedicated to her Majesty of England with a sharp Invective as before hath been shewed used by them against the Calvinists therein which Century containeth the fourth Hundred year after Christ and the first of the three which now we have in hand from Constantine downward wherein they spend above 400 Leaves in Folio and more than twice as much in the other two Centuries that ensue John Fox not having bestow'd four Leaves upon all three Ages as you have heard 13. And that you may perceive how this one Century of the Magdeburgians cometh to make so great a Volume you must note that it is divided into certain large Chapters or Heads of different matters As for example first of the propagation of Christian Religion in that Age and the State thereof throughout all Countreys Kingdoms and Nations which is a large matter as you see comprehending the Stories of all Ecclesiastical Writers Secondly of Persecutions Troubles and Jars that have passed as also of Peace and Tranquility Then of Doctrin good or bad then of Heresies then of Rites and Ceremonies then of Ecclesiastical Government then of Schisms then of Synods and Councils then of Bishops Doctors and Teachers their Lives Works and Actions at large then of Heretics their beginnings and endings then of Martyrs then of Miracles then of Pagan Commonwealths also and other such points capable as you see of long Discourses Which I thought fit once to note to the end that those which have not read the Centuries may know in general what matters they handle and what method they use therein 14. Secondly it is to be noted about the same affair That in all these Heads and Chapters there be divers things which are not in controversie among us I mean between Catholics and Protestants but are common to us both at least in some degrees Other Points there are that they affirm and we deny or we affirm and they deny There is a third kind also of Points wherein tho' We and Protestants do not agree fully either in the Doctrin or in the Practice yet one Sect of them differeth more or less from us than the other And in all these three Points you shall see some brief Examples of the Magdeburgians manner of proceeding in this fourth Age Noting to you first by the way their own Testimony of the excellent Learning of the Doctors and Teachers thereof in these words Habuit haec aet as si quae unquam alia plurimos praestantes illustres Doctores ut Arnobium Lactantium c. This Age if ever any other had very many most excellent and famous Doctors as Arnobius Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Hilarius Victorinus Basilius Nazianzenus Ambrosius Prudentius Epiphanius Theophilus Hieronymus Faustinus Didymus Ephrem Optatus and others out of which we shall shew and declare what was the form of Christian Doctrin used in this Age. 15. Lo there the Testimony of the Magdeburgians of the famous Doctors Teachers and Leaders of Christ's Church in this Age And being such as they say so excellently Learned and endued with Christ's Spirit for Guiding of his Church is it probable think you that these four German Magdeburgians Illyricus Wigandus Judex and Faber shall come to presume afterward to condemn them all of Ignorance and lack of Spirit when they speak against them Truly they cannot do it with any shame fac'dness or modesty at all or be believed
accuse St. Ambrose for using these words Missam facere Offerre Offerre Sacrificium c. To say Mass to offer to offer up Sacrifice c. They reprehend Gregory Nyssen for teaching of Transmutation or Transubstantiation Dei verbo Sanctificatum panem in Dei verbi corpus credimus immutari We do believe that the Bread which is Sanctified by the word of God is by the same word of God changed into the Body of the Son of God. 20. It would be overlong to Treat of all the Points in Controversie for which the Magdeburgians do reprehend and Condemn the Fathers of this Age which so highly they commended a little before For about Justification by Faith only they Condemn by Name Lactantius Nilus Chromacius Ephrem and St. Hierom. And why for that he saith non sufficit murum habere fidei nisi ipsa fides bonis operibus confirmetur It is not enough to have the wall of Faith except Faith be confirmed with good works Which yet you have heard approved by the Sentence of Sir Francis Hastings before 21. They condemn the same Lactantius together with St. Gregory Nyssen St. Hillary St. Nazianzen St. Ambrose St. Ephrem and Theophilus Alexandrinus for Attributing to much to good works but especially to those that are voluntary Inter omnia opera say they Electitiis plurimum haec aetas tribuit Sic enim ait Theophilus hi qui jejunia id est Angelicam conversationem in terris imitantur per continentiam brevi parvo labore magna sibi aeterna conciliant praemia But among all other works say the Magdeburgians this Age doth Attribute most unto voluntary works or such as are chosen by a Mans self for so saith Theophilus Arch-Bishop of Alexandria those that do follow Fasting that is to say an Angelical Conversation upon Earth do gain unto themselves by this short and small labor of abstinence great and eternal rewards 22. About Satisfaction they reprehend greatly and put it for an Error in great Hilarius for that he writeth upon these words of the 118 Psalm My eyes have brought forth fountains of waters c. Haec poenitentiae vox est lachrymis orare lachrymis ingemiscere This is the voice of true Penance to pray with tears and sigh with tears And again Haec venia peccati est fontem fletus stere largo lachrymarum imbre mad fieri This is the forgiveness of sin to weep a whole fountain of tears and to wash our selves with a large shower of weeping c. This did greatly discontent our Good-fellow Germans but St. Hilarius was of another Opinion 23. What should I recite here other Controversies seeing it would but tire the Reader For about Invocation and Prayer to Saints they condemn by name St. Athanasius lib. de Incarnatione for praying to our Lady St. Basil oratione in quadraginta Martyres for praying to the said Forty Martyrs St. Gregory Nazianzen oratione in Basilium for praying to St. Basil after he was dead also for praying to St. Cyprian after he was martyred Orat. in Cyprianum they condemn also St. Ambrose lib. de viduis for praying to St. Peter and St. Andrew and our Lady they condemn Prudentius for praying to St. Laurence and in another place to St. Vincentius and Cassianus Martyrs Hym. in Laur. Vincent Cassian They condemn Epiphanius for saying that Prayers of the Living do help the Dead Haeres 75. They condemn St. Ephrem for saying that the Saints in Paradise did pray for them that are alive lib. 1. de compunctione cordis cap. 13. 24. As for unwritten Tradition they condemn all the Fathers of this Age one by one reciting their Sentences and rejecting them They condemn by name Lactantius Prudentius and Hieronymus for holding Purgatory they condemn St. Epiphanius for affirming that the Church admitteth no man to marry after he is Priest Et haec certe sancta Dei Ecclesia cum sinceritate observat And truly the holy Church of God saith Epiphanius doth observe this Custom with all sincerity And thus much be spoken only about one Chapter to wit of Doctrin having over-skipped many other things for brevity-sake in the same Chapter 25. But if I would pass to other Chapters especially that of Rites and Ceremonies which is their sixth in order there would be no end For first in the very first Paragraph about Rites or Ceremonies belonging to Churches Service and public Meeting which is but one of almost twenty Paragraphs contained in this Chapter they set down these Rites following which do easily shew that Our Religion and not Theirs was in practice in this fourth Age. As for example the Building of Churches in Honor of Saints by Constantine and others at the beginning of this Age and dedicating them to the same Saints out of Eusebius and other Authors pag. 407. nu 50. Dedications also and Consecrations of the same Temples or Churches and the Days of the said Consecration kept Holy and Festival with great solemnity out of Athanasius and others ibid. Service at midnight used in the Churches at that time out of St. Basil and others ibid. Altars builded in Churches for Christian Sacrifice by the testimony of Socrates Zozomenus Theodoretus and others ibid. The Interpretation also what an Altar meaneth set down by Optatus Quid est Altare nisi sedes Corporis Sanguinis Christi What is an Altar but the seat of the Body and Blood of Christ Images also set up and painted in Churches in this Age out of Zozomenus Eusebius Optatus and others pag. 409. Caereas Candelas Lampades Torches Wax-Candles and burning Lamps set up in the Church by Constantine himself out of Eusebius lib. 4. de vita Constant pag. 410. Of Vigils and Watches kept in Church-Feasts out of Basil Theodoret and others ibid. The use of Litanies in those days they shew out of Basil Theodoret and others ibid. 26. I leave many more Rites and Catholic Ceremonies set down by them in this first Paragraph which is of public Meetings Churches c. But if I would pass from this unto many other Heads handled by them as about the use of Baptism and administration of other Sacraments and Sacrifice about Feasts Fasts Marriage Burying Honoring Martyrs Tombs Pilgrimages consecrating of Monks and Nuns and other such points which these Magdeburgians do handle here at large out of the Fathers of this Age and practice of that Church to the number of nineteen or twenty all against themselves it were sufficient to make a several Book apart As for Example about Baptism they teach us That those who are to be baptized must first be confessed of their sins that they must say abrenuntio tibi Sathana omnibus operibus tuis that they must be prepared by Exorcisms and after Baptism be anointed with holy Chrism that they must fast a certain number of days before their Baptism that they must thrice be
dived in the water that they must have Lamps lighted at their Baptism And for the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar they shew us How it was wont to be administred and sent when occasion was offered from one place to another how often it should be received and with what reverence and with what Vigils and Prayers before and how it was wont to be carried to them that lay on their Death-bed and how they were bound to confess it openly to be the true Body and Blood of Christ before they received it and what great Miracles fell out for proof and confirmation of the truth about this Real Presence These and almost infinite other points like unto these the Magdeburgians do prove at length to have been in use throughout this fourth Age by the Testimonies and Writings of the principal Doctors thereof 27. Wherefore I will leave the Reader to consider what manner of people these Lutheran Writers are who do record so many important Testimonies against themselves and having alledged them then they refute all again presently with this bare shift that they are either Jewish or Pagan Ceremonies brought in by the Fathers upon Superstition and so not to be regarded and this they think to be sufficient to refute them all As for Example talking of the Ceremony of Fasting in those days what Meats they did eat and how rigorously they abstained and how long these good fellows do write thus Jejunia observasse religiosiùs quidem seu superstitiosiùs quà m superioribus saeculis hujus aetatis Christianos Historiae testantur Histories do testifie unto us that the Christians of this Age did observe Fasting-days more religiously or rather more superstitiously than any Age before for that Human Traditions began now to be more multiplied and Epiphanius doth say that the Fast of Wednesdays and Fridays was observed at this time as a Tradition of the Apostles but we find no such thing in their Works Thus said these Germans that never perhaps fasted a day in their life nor ever abstained for Devotion-sake from any good morsel of Meat that their Lips could reach unto And so much of these men for they are not worth the spending of time to refute them Well then by these few Examples taken out of two Chapters only of the Magdeburgians about this fourth Age we see what may be gathered if we would go over all the three Centuries for these three Ages from Constantine to St. Gregory and thereby also we see the reason why Fox wrote so little of these three Ages being wholly against them 28. But now perhaps the Reader will ask how it falleth out that John Fox having dedicated a special Book to wit his second of Acts and Monuments unto these three Ages after Constantine for so is his Title how I say he could make up a distinct Book and yet say nothing of the Ecclesiastical Affairs therein contained Whereunto I answer That this is another Foxly fetch of his to promise and not perform and to do one thing for another for that despairing to have matter to his purpose out of the former three Ages as hath been shewed he slideth away slightly to another Argument which he had not promised in his Title to wit of some things fallen out in our English Church in the next 200 years after from the time of St. Augustin and King Ethelbert unto the time of King Egbert first Monarch of the English about the year of Christ 800. But for that these two Ages to wit the seventh and eighth do contain the times of our primitive English Church I think best to treat severally thereof in the next Chapter following this being sufficient to shew that in these second 300 years John Fox had as little room for his Church as in the former CHAP. IV. How matters passed in the Christian Church both abroad and at home in England during the third station of Time from Pope Gregory and Ethelbert King of Kent unto Egbert our first Monarch containing the space of two hundred years THere followeth in order the third distinction or station of Times appointed by John Fox in the beginning of his History and promised by him to be handled distinctly in the prosecution of his Work and so indeed this station ought to have been above the rest for that it containeth the time of our English primitive Church to wit the two first hundred years thereof from St. Augustin downward But as you have heard before he finding scarce any thing in these two Ages which delighted his heretical humor no not our very Conversion it self from Paganism to Christian Religion he shuffleth the same over in the end of his foresaid second Book together with the second 300 years after Christ from Constantine to Pope Gregory as before hath been shewed So as he includeth the Acts of 500 years of the most Famous and Glorious Times that ever were in the Church of God whether we respect the General and Universal Church or the Church of England in particular in a little Book of a dozen Leaves only of which dozen Leaves the least part doth concern this time whereas when he cometh down to handle the Acts and Gests of John Wickliff John Husse Hierom of Prague and other such paltry Heretics not worth the talking of he writeth whole Volumes and many hundred Leaves together but of these 200 years of our first Conversion and primitive Church Fathers Doctors and Saints thereof he writeth both very little and most contemptuously and yet wanted he not Authors to give him matter in this behalf seeing that St. Bede that lived in the first of these 200 years hath left five whole Books of the Acts and Gests thereof besides other that have ensued as Gosselinus Malmsbury Westmonasteriensis and others 2. But the truth is that John Fox seeing these times to be wholly against him and that they lay down more clearly before us if it may be than the rest especially to English-men the Truth and Evidence of the Catholic Roman Faith he had no heart nor courage to deal much therewith but sought to shuffle over in silence so much as he might conveniently and the rest to discredit by scoffs taunts corruption and falsification as after you shall see for I have thought good to make a distinct Chapter of these two Ages and thereby somewhat to let you see and behold what passed therein tho' very briefly and how John Fox doth behave himself in relating the same 3. First then if we consider the Universal Church of Christendom in these 200 years which are the 700 and 800 years of Christ there are recounted to have sitten in the Roman See Thirty-three Popes from Gregory I. to Leo III. and in the East Empire the West being decay'd before some Nineteen or Twenty Emperors reigned one after another from Mauritius to Constantine VI. and Irene his Mother in whose time Charles the Great of France was made Emperor of the
Infants X. That they should both learn and teach the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in English XI That all should joyn together in their Ministry after one uniform Rite and manner XII That in a modest voice they should sing in the Church XIII That all Holy and Festival-days should be celebrated at one time together XIV That the Sabboth day be reverendly observed and kept XV. That the seven hours Canonical every day be observed XVI That the Rogation-days both the greater and lesser should not be omitted XVII That the Feast of St. Gregory and St. Augustin our Patron should be observed XVIII That the Fast of the four times should be kept and observed XIX That Monks and Nuns should go regularly apparelled XX. That Bishops should see these Decrees not neglected XXI That the Church-men should not give themselves unto Drunkenness XXII That the Communion should not be neglected of the Church-men XXIII Item That the same also should be observed of the Lay men as time required XXIV That Lay-men first should be well tried before they entred into Religious Order XXV That Alms should not be neglected XXVI That Bishops should see these Decrees to be notified to the people XXVII They disputed of the profit of Alms. XXVIII They disputed of the profit of singing Psalms XXIX That the Congregation should be constituted after the ability of their Goods XXX That Monks should not dwell among Lay-men XXXI That public Prayer should be made for Kings and Princes These Decrees and Ordinances being thus among the Bishops concluded Cuthbert the Archbishop sendeth the Copy thereof to Boniface which Boniface otherwise named Wenfride an English-man born was then Archbishop of Mentz and after made a Martyr as the Popish Stories term him 10. Thus far I thought good to set down the Decrees of these two Synods of the first two Ages of our primitive Church in the words themselves of John Fox whereby you might see or at leastwise make some guess of the Learning and Vertue of these times which Fox endeavoreth by all means to bring in contempt Which point I mean of their Learning Piety and Godly Solicitude for governing our new-founded Church of England would more evidently have appeared by these two Synods if this lying Historiographer had not used here also his too Fox like tricks of falsifying and fraudulent omission of other things which he should have related For better understanding of these which he hath here set down I shall speak a word or two of them briefly for it were infinit to follow him in all these traces turnings and windings of his 11. First then touching the former Council or Synod held by Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury and related by St. Bede for of this only will I treat for brevities sake to shew an Example thereby how you may trust John Fox in the rest which he writeth these points may be noted First That whereas he saith that this Synod was held in the year of Christ 680 and quoteth Bede for the same in his Margin he falsifieth him plainly for that Bede's words are these set down at length Fact a est haec Synodus ab Incarnatione Domini sexcentesimo septuagesimo tertio quo anno Rex Cantuariorum Egbertus mense Julio obierat c. This Synod was made in the year after the Incarnation of Christ 673 in which year Egbert King of Kent was dead in the month of July before The same testifieth St. Bede in other words in the very same Chapter saying thus That this Synod was gathered the 24th of September in the third year of the Reign of King Egfrid of Northumberland who began his Reign according to Stow in the year of Christ 670. All which Fox having seen yet setteth down as out of Bede that it was in the year of Christ 680. 12. Secondly Fox writeth thus of the place In the time of this Theodorus a Provincial Synod was held at Thetford mentioned in the Story of Bede But he that will read St. Bede himself shall find these words In loco qui dicitur Herudfrod In a place called Herudfrod that is Hartford as William Cambden doth testifie in his Description of Hartfordshire citing also this very Council out of Bede held at Herudfrod So as I marvel how doting Fox did fall upon Thetford 13. But thirdly there follow more malicious changings and falsifications in citing the Articles themselves of this Synod whereof he scarce relateth any one without some alteration as each man may see that will compare them with the Original of St. Bede himself I shall touch for example the first and the last of the ten for that they have more express malice in them than the rest which I do let pass 14. The first Decree of this Synod was saith Fox That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observ'd throughout the whole Realm upon one certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi that is to say upon the first 14 Moon or day of the Moon of the first Month to wit of March. Which is just as the Jews do observe it against the Use and Custom of the Church of Rome and is an old condemn'd Error and Heresie as before you have heard discuss'd at large in the second third and fourth Chapters of this Treatise And you must note that Fox maketh this Decree to say that this fourteenth Moon or fourteenth day of the first Moon of March for this is the phrase of Ecclesiastical Calculation to say Luna prima Luna secunda Luna tertia for the first second or third day of the Moon must be certain or certainly observed so as it may not be alter'd nor Easter observ'd upon any other day wherein standeth the formality of the former Error as hath been declared for that it putteth a necessity of observing the old Jewish Law and thereby doth evacuate the force of Christ's Grace and Gospel as you have heard before discussed Which being so will you easily believe that the whole Church of England could be brought to decree such an Error in a public Council and that St. Bede in particular would ever relate the same with his approbation seeing he mislik'd the same so greatly in some of the Britans as in the former Chapters of this Treatise we have declared 15. Well then let us see what the words of St. Bede himself are in this Synodical Decree corrupted by Fox Primum Capitulum saith he relating it out of the words of the Canons themselves ut sanctum diem Paschae in communi omnes servemus Dominica post 14 Lunam primi Mensis The first Article of our Decrees saith the Council is that we do all in common observe the holy day of Easter upon the Sunday next after the fourteenth Moon of the first Month. 16. Thus saith the Decree truly related by St. Bede quite contrary to that which Fox related before he putting out and putting in of his own without shame or conscience
what he thought best in this little Sentence to make those Fathers seem to say as he would have them in favor of a condemn'd Heresie To which effect he putteth out as you have seen the word Dominica which maketh or marreth all the matter and then for post 14 Lunam written at large in St. Bede he putteth in prima 14 Luna short in numbers only to make it more obscure adding prima of his own and putting out post from the words of the Council thereby to make the sense more clear in favor of the Heresie for that prima 14 Luna Mensis primi which are his words do signifie the fourteenth day of the first Moon of March expresly And moreover he addeth of his own these words upon one certain day which the Decree hath not meaning thereby that this fourteenth day must be observed with such certainty as it may not be altered or deferred to any Sunday but must be observed as an immovable Feast which out of Luther we have shewed before also to be his meaning And thus much of the first Decree 17. The last and tenth Decree hath no less fraud and malice used against it by Fox than this first for the malicious shameless Fellow would make those Fathers of that Synod to favor the Doctrin and Practice of the Protestants in putting away their Wives for Fornication and marrying another for to this effect he citeth the Canon Tenthly That no man may put away his Wife for any cause except only for Fornication after the Rule of the Gospel And there breaketh off as tho' the Council had said no more nor added any further caution or explication of their meaning Whereof it would ensue as Protestants do infer that seeing a man may put away one Wife for Fornication and is not bound to live unmarried if he have not the gift of Continency he may lawfully take another Wife as the practice of Protestants is at this day in England But the Reader must know that immediatly after the former words by him recited there follow in the Canon others that mar all his Market for thus they lie together 18. Nullus conjugem propriam nifi ut sanctum Evangelium docet Fornicationis causa relinquat Quòd si quisquam propriam expulerit conjugem legitimo sibi matrimonio conjunctam si Christianus esse rectè voluerit nulli alteri copuletur sed ita permaneat aut propriae reconcilietur conjugi Let no man leave his own Wife but only as the holy Gospel teacheth us for the cause of Fornication and if any man should put away his Wife that is joyned unto him by lawful Marriage if he will be a true Christian let him not marry another but either remain so in Continency or be reconciled to his own Wife again 19. Lo here the fidelity of John Fox in relating matters This Canon determineth two things you see First That a man may not leave the company or cohabitation of his Wife but only for the sin of Fornication committed by her The second That being so separated he may not marry another for any cause but either must remain continent or be reconcil'd to his former Wife again And this was the Doctrin of the Catholic Church then and is now which our Fox would fain have concealed from his Reader and have made him believe that the old primitive English Church had been for Them and their Practice at this day But the poor Reynard is taken at every winding when he is followed which were impossible to do in all his false doublings And so these two Examples only shall suffice to shew his tricks in this first point of Falsification Let us pass to the second of wilful Omission 20. There remaineth to say a word or two of his Omissions whereby he leaveth out of purpose from his Story those things which might give Credit or Reputation to our English Church in these ancient times which he seeketh by all means to make ridiculous and contemptible As for Example the Number and Quality of the Prelates and Learned Men that then flourished and were present in these Synods the Reasons and Arguments and other like Circumstances partly set down by St. Bede and other Authors upon divers occasions and partly registred in the very Prefaces of the Synods themselves As for Example in this first Synod here cited they begin thus 21. In Nomine Domini Dei Salvatoris Jesu Christi c. In the Name of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ reigning for ever and governing his Church it pleased him that we should meet together according to the Custom of the Venerable Canons of the Church to handle necessary business of our English Church Wherefore we met together upon the 24th day of the Month of September in the first Indiction in a place called Herudfrod I Theodorus tho' unworthy appointed by the See-Apostolic Bishop of the Church of Canterbury and our Fellow-Bishop and Brother the most Reverend Bisy Bishop of the East-Angles and our Brother and Fellow Priest Wilfrid Bishop of the Nation of the Northumbers was present by his proper Legats there were present also our Brethren and Fellow-Priests Putta Bishop of the Castle of Kent commonly called Rhofessester Eleutherius also Bishop of the West-Saxons and Winfrid Bishop of the Mercians And when we were all come together and every man set according to his Order and Degree I said unto them Most dear Brethren I beseech you for the Fear and Love of our Savior that we may handle here in common the things that belong unto our Faith to the end that these things which have been decreed and defined by the Holy ancient Fathers about the same may be kept uncorrupt by us all c. 22. This is part of the Preface to the first Synod out of which the former Decrees related and corrupted by Fox as you have heard were taken and by the very words of this Entrance or Preface there is more serious gravity signified than Fox would seem to acknowledge at this day in England But seven years after this again the said Theodorus made another Synod passed over in silence by Fox but St. Bede relateth the same in these words 23. His temporibus audiens Theodorus c. At this time Theodorus the Archbishop hearing that the Church of Constantinople was greatly troubled by the Heresie of Eutyches that deny'd two Natures to be in Christ or that his Flesh was like ours and desiring greatly that the Churches of England over which he had Jurisdiction should continue free from such Infection he gathered together a Synod of very many Venerable Priests and Learned Bishops and finding them after diligent enquiry made to agree all together in one Catholic Faith he thought good to set the same down by Synodical Letters for Instruction and Memory of Posterity which began thus In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior in the Reign of our most
pious Princes and Lords Egfrid King of the Northumbers Anno 10. upon the fifteenth day before the Calends of October the eighth Indiction and Etheldred reigning over the Mercians the sixth year of his Reign and Adulphus being King of the East-Angles the seventeenth year of his Reign and Lodtharius being King of Kent in the seventh year of his Reign and Theodorus by the Grace of God Archbishop of the Isle of Britanny and of the City of Canterbury being President of the Synod together with the rest of the Bishops of the same Island venerable men sitting with him in Council and the holy Sacred Gospel being laid before them in a place called in the Saxon Tongue Hedtfield after treaty had they expounded the right Catholic Faith in this manner 24. Sicut Dominus noster Jesus c. As our Lord Jesus taking our flesh upon him did deliver unto his Disciples that saw him in person and heard his speeches and as the Symbolum or Creed of the holy Fathers have delivered unto us and as generally all whole and universal Synods and all the company of holy Fathers and Doctors of the holy Catholic Church have taught us so do We following their steps both Piously and Catholicly according to their Doctrin inspired to them from Heaven profess and believe and constantly confess according to the said holy Fathers Belief That the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost are properly and truly a consubstantial Trinity in Unity and Unity in Trinity c. We receive also the holy and universal five Synods that have been held before our time by the blessed Christian Fathers our Ancestors to wit those 318 holy Bishops in the first Council of Nice against Arius and his wicked Doctrin and of the 150 other Bishops in the first Council of Constantinople against the Heresie of Macedonius and of the 200 Godly Bishops of the Council of Ephesus against Nestorius and his Errors and of the 230 Bishops in the Council of Calcedon against Eutyches and his Doctrin and of the other 165 Fathers gathered together in the second General Council of Constantinople against divers Heretics and Heresies c. We do receive all these Councils and we do glorifie our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified him adding nothing nor taking any thing away We do anathematize and accurse also both by heart and mouth all those whom these Fathers did anathematize and accurse and we do receive them whom they received c. 25. Behold here the manner and form of Catholic Councils of old time who laid down first the Gospel in the midst and then after due examination of Scriptures considered that Antiquity of Fathers and Councils had determined in God's Church before them even from Christ and his Apostles downward and therein insisted agreeing all in one and rejecting and accursing all new contrary or different Doctrins and Doctors and by his means and by the assistance of the Holy Ghost promised by Christ unto his Church hath she continued now for 1600 years one and the self-same whereas Sectaries lacking this Humility Wisdom and Subordination but especially God's Grace are divided and consumed among themselves 26. But I will pass no further in this point this which I have said being sufficient to shew that there were more Learned men in England in these times of our primitive Church than fantastical Fox would have men believe which is greatly confirmed by that which Malmsbury writeth and Fox also confesseth the same That a General Council being gathered soon after this which we have mentioned in Constantinople both of the East and West Church against the Monothelites that deny'd two distinct Wills of Christ our Archbishop Theodorus with some other Learned men of our English Clergy was called for by Pope Agatho to be one of his Legats in the said Council where there were 331 Bishops gathered together by order of the said Agatho Bishop of Rome against the Patriarchs of Antioch Alexandria and Constantinople which thing sheweth the great Power and Authority of the Bishop of Rome even in Greece it self at that day the Emperour Constantine IV. being present himself 27. And to this Council as is said was the foresaid Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury with divers other Bishops called by name by Pope Agatho as we may see in his Letter to the said Council cited by Malmsbury in these words Sperabamus de Britannia Theodorum c. We did hope to have had from Britanny Theodore my Brother and Fellow-Bishop and Archbishop of that great Island and a Philosopher together with others which hitherto do remain there and then to have joined them to our Humility and for this cause we have hitherto deferred the Council Vides quanti eum fecerit saith Malmsbury ut ejus expectatione Universale Concilium differret You see of what account this Archbishop was with Pope Agatho that he would defer a General Council for his expectation Thus writeth he whereby every indifferent man will easily see that this time of our primitive English Church which Fox by contempt so often calleth Ignorant and Monkish was not devoid of rare Learned men and so hath continued until our days frustrà circumlatrantibus haereticis to use St. Augustin's words Heretics in vain barking on every side against it With whom John Fox thought good to bear a barking part also and not being able to find out any one hole or corner for his Church in those Ages except only among the Heretics before named he thought good at least to rail and spit at them as he passeth by and so will he do more and more the lower he goeth until at length he fall to plain Apostasie and forsaking them openly will join with the known condemned Heretics and Enemies of this Church which Church hitherto notwithstanding he will seem in some sort to follow tho' lazily and dragging behind and as it were weary of her Company and looking about him which way he may give the slip and betake himself to his heels as will better appear by that which ensueth CHAP. V. The fourth station or division of Times from King Egbert unto William the Conqueror containing the space of some 260 years and how John Fox his Church passed in these days and whether there were any Pope Joan or no. YOu have heard before how John Fox in his second Book promising to handle but 300 years touched in the Acts of 500 in less than a dozen Leaves shewing the small store of matter he had for his Church in those Ages Now his next Book is entituled thus The third Book containing the next 300 years from the Reign of Egbert unto the time of William the Conqueror So is his Title And yet if you count the years from the beginning of King Egbert his Reign Anno Domini 802 according to Stow or 800 according to others unto the entrance of the Conqueror Anno 1066 you shall find but only 264 years and
from King Egbert his death but 234. So as Fox is in no one thing exact or punctual And these 264 years may be counted the fourth station or parcel of Time from Christ downward which now we are briefly to examin and run over as we have done the former Stations and Limitations appointed 2. First then concerning the general Roman Church it continued in these Ages as in the former by continual Succession of her Bishops and Governors altering nothing in Belief and Doctrin from her Ancestors And briefly to repeat the sum of all there ruled in the See of Rome in these two Ages and an half as supreme known and acknowledged Pastors of this great visible Church some sixty Popes from Leo III. that crowned Charles the Great and thereby restor'd the Western Empire unto the time of Alexander II. under whom Duke William of Normandy conquered England And in the Western Empire there reigned some eighteen Emperours in this space from Charles the Great to Henry IV. and in the Eastern Empire some twenty five from Nicephorus I. to Constantine X. All which Popes Emperours and Princes were of one Religion Faith and Belief in those days And albeit soon after the See of Constantinople and Greek Church by occasion of Emulation against the Roman Empire did begin to withdraw their due Obedience from the Roman Church and thereby fell by little and little into divers errors of Doctrin also and finally were delivered over as all the World seeth into the Subjection and Servitude of the Turks yet in these Ages there was Union and due Subordination between both Churches Which may appear by that one only General Council being held at Constantinople even against Phocius that was Patriarch of the said City being gathered by order of Pope Adrian II. and Basilius the Grecian Emperour concurring therein This Council was of 300 Bishops and confirmed by the said Pope Adrian being the eighth General Council in order and the fourth of those that were held in Constantinople Whereby it cometh also to be noted That all the General Councils held hitherto in the Christian Church for the space of 900 years being eight in number as hath been said from the first Council of Nice unto this and from this to the first General Council of Lateran holden in the year of Christ 1115 under Pope Innocentius III. were all held in Greece but yet by order of the Bishops of Rome sending thither their Legats and confirming the same afterwards by themselves without which confirmation they were never held for Lawful in the Christian World which is no small Argument of the Greatness and Authority of the Church of Rome from time to time 3. It shall not be needful to speak of the particular Heresies of these two or three Ages which in effect were none of any name but only two the Iconoclasts or Image-breakers and the Berengarians or Sacramentaries both of them agreeing in their particular Heresies with the Calvinists of our Times tho' in many other things different as it is wont to be The first of them was begun before these Times by Leo III. Emperour of Constantinople sirnamed Isaurus about the year of Christ 750 as before hath been noted and renewed again by Claudius Taurinensis The second was begun 300 years after by Berengarius about the year of Christ 1050 and abjured by him again as hereafter shall be shewed The chief Doctors and Fathers that defended true Religion in these Ages were Turpinus Eginhardus Haymo Rabanus Frecolphus Hincmarus Jo. Diaconus Remigius Theophylactus and others in the ninth Age and then in the other Odo Ado Rhegino Luitprandus Rhatbodus Abbo Floriacensis and others and the other half of the eleventh Age Bruchardus Petrus Damianus Lanfrancus and many others 4. And this was the state of the Universal Christian Church in these Ages whereunto in all respects was conform the particular Church of England as the Daughter to her Mother which may be demonstrated partly by the continual Descent of Archbishops in England which were to the number of Sixteen from Celnothus that lived with King Egbert unto Stigand that possessed the See of Canterbury when William the Conqueror came in tho' afterward he caused him to be deposed by a Commission from Rome in the year of Christ 1070 as John Stow and others do note 5. I do pretermit the Succession of other Bishoprics in England for Brevities sake the Kings also of England that possessed that Crown from Egbert to William the Conqueror were some Twenty in number if we count Canutus the Dane and his two Children among the rest All which Kings of what Nation or State soever agreed fully in Faith and Belief with the said Archbishops and Bishops of our Land and They again with the whole Universal Roman Church as appeareth by their Acts and Monuments and John Fox also confesseth 6. Which being so it is hard to say or imagin where John Fox in these Ages will pick out a different Christian Church tho' it be never so poor and creeping for Him and His either in England or out of England during this time And much more hard it is to think how he can devise any visible Continuation of the said obscure and trodden-down Church as he promised to do even from the Apostles Time to our Age. His only refuge must be as before we have often noted to run to the condemned Heretics of these times if he find any for his purpose Which yet he dareth not openly to do as you have seen throughout all the former Ages But afterward when he cometh near home to wit after Pope Innocentius III. and John Wickliff he taketh more heart affirming Our Church to have utterly perished and a new visible Off-spring of his Church to have started up to wit all the Sectaries and Heretics cast out and condemned of our Church as you shall see more particularly when we come to that place 7. For the present Ages that we are now in he doth not so much as lay hands upon the Iconoclasts or Berengarians nor doth seem to count them for his Brethren tho' in the principal Points of their Heresies they agree with Him as is notorious And John Fox to have some visible Members of his Church in these Ages ought to have shaken hands with them but the poor Fellow was asham'd to build his Church openly of so ancient Heretics tho' afterward when he beginneth to build indeed and to gather Stones together he calleth for the Berengarians again which now he casteth away as after you shall see 8. But now perhaps you will ask me If John Fox do set down no Succession in these Ages as neither in the former of His Church or Ours what doth the simple Fellow in all this third Book of his Whereto I answer first That albeit he promiseth in the Title That this third Book shall contain the Acts and Monuments of 300 years together with the whole
the Conversion of Infidels to Christian Faith and their holy Baptism calling it signing them with the Character of the Beast Who but a Beast indeed or a man of a beastly mind would speak so If I should allege the Testimonies of all ancient Authors since his time in praise and admiration of so zealous and holy a Martyr I should oppress both Fox and Bale with their very Names and Authority 17. But to return to Fox again You have heard what he omitteth of the Church of England which he might well have discoursed of in handling these Times Seeing he passeth over our particular Church so slightly you will demand perchance what he writeth or setteth down of the Universal Roman Church Truly in effect he handleth nothing of moment nor coherence tho' to bring in a certain impertinent Tale whereof he desireth to speak to wit of Pope Joan he setteth us down a short Rank of some few Popes but namely of Pope Leo IV. unto whom he adjoyneth Pope John VIII and after him Benedict III. and then Pope Nicholas I. And this Pope John VIII which entred between Leo and Benedict he will needs have to have been a Woman whom he calleth Pope Joan And albeit John Fox's words be as foolish and blasphemous as they are wont in such cases yet will I recite them here to the end you may see what truth pr probability this so much blazed and canvased Heretical Fiction hath in it 18. And here next saith he followeth now and cometh in the Whore of Babylon rightly in her true colours by the permission of God and manifestly without all tergiversation to appear to the World and that not only after the spiritual sense but after the letter and the right form of an Whore indeed For after this Leo above mentioned the Cardinals proceeding to their ordinary Election after a solemn Mass of the Holy Ghost to the perpetual shame of them and of that See instead of a Man Pope elected a Whore indeed called by the Name of John VIII who sate two years and six months c. The Womans proper Name was Gilberta c. 19. Behold John Fox describeth so particularly this Woman and her Election as if he had been present and seen all pass But suppose all this were true which he hath written as we shall prove it presently to be altogether false Suppose I say that by Error such a Woman had been chosen what had ensu'd of that or what had this prejudiced the Church of Christ St. Augustin asketh the very same Question in a like case when having recited up the Popes of Rome from Christ to his days to wit from St. Peter to Pope Anastasius he maketh this demand What if any Judas or Traytor had entred among these or been chosen by Error of men Si quisquam Traditor saith he per illa tempora subrepsisset If any Traytor in those days had crept in what had ensu'd thereof And then he maketh the Answer presently Nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae innocentibus Christianis And the very like do I answer in this case For I would ask John Fox If immediately after the Apostles time whiles yet he confesseth the Church of Rome to have been in good state and the true Church of Christ any Woman or Hermaphroditus or any that had not been baptized or if a Lay-man and not Priest and consequently not capable of that Place and Dignity had by Error of men crept into the Office of chief Bishop which as it may happen by human frailty so yet we assure our selves that the Providence of God will never permit it in so high and supreme a Dignity of his Church but if it should have happened out had this prejudiced that Apostolic Church or made it the Whore of Babylon as Fox inferreth of his latter Church Truly I think he dareth not say so for that it is evident it were a plain cavil the only inconvenience of that case being if it should fall out that the Church should lack a true Head for the time as she doth when any Pope dieth until another be chosen And whatsoever inconvenience can be imagined in this case is more against the Protestants than Us for that their Church admitteth for lawful and supreme Head thereof either Man or Woman which our Church doth not Here then is seen John Fox's Folly in urging this point 20. Again I would ask the simple Fellow that repeateth so often the word Whore in this place as tho' he were delighted therewith Whether that word used by St. John in the Apocalypse to wit Meretrix Babylon were meant of a particular person as he applieth it or rather of a City or Multitude If he will answer any thing at all he must needs grant the second for that the Vision describeth plainly the City of Rome scituated upon seven Hills that slew the Martyrs of Christ and infected the whole World with the variety and confusion of her Idolatries which Sentences being not applicable to the Church or Congregation of Christians in those days that was holy as Fox will confess but rather to the State and present condition of Rome under those Pagan persecuting Emperours that afflicted Christians and forced men to Idolatry which State was prophesied that it should fall and be overthrown soon after by Christ's Power as we have seen it fulfilled All this I say being put together and considered it is a most ridiculous thing to apply this Prophesie of the Whore of Babylon as Fox doth to any particular Pope John Joan or Jill if any such had been 21. But the very truth is that this whole Story of Pope Joan is a meer Fable and so known to the more learned sort of Protestants themselves but that they will not leave off to delude the World with it for lack of other matter If you ask me How it began and hath continued in mens mouths so long I answer Either upon simplicity or malice or both Upon simplicity it seemeth it was begun by the first Author and Relator thereof Martinus Polonus that lived about 300 years agone and above 400 after the thing is said to have fallen out who was a very simple man as appeareth by many other fabulous Relations which he maketh And yet doth not he aver it but only with this limitation ut asseritur as it is said whereby he sheweth to have received it only by vulgar Rumor without any certain Author or Ground And we shall afterward shew the occasion of the foresaid false Rumor 22. But the matter being once on foot it was carry'd on partly by curiosity of latter Writers that took it out of Polonus as Platina and others relating it with the same restriction ut aiunt as men say and partly by malice and emulation of them that favoured the German Empire against the Pope and were glad to have such a matter of some Dishonor to object against the See of Rome which
other ancient extern Authors before mentioned So as here is neither place nor time left for Joannes Anglicus to have come between them 27. And all these Authors did write as hath been noted either before or with Martinus Polonus who is taken to have been the first Relator of this Fable And tho' in some printed Copies of the Chronicles of Marianus Scotus and Sigebertus somewhat elder than Martinus Polonus there be mention in a word or two of this Tale with this ground ut ferunt as men say yet in more ancient Manuscript Originals found in Flanders and other places no such thing is seen but rather to the contrary with divers evident signs and conjectures that those few words now found in the printed Copies were added by others afterward in Germany where the Work lay for many years during the Contention of the German Emperours against the See of Rome 28. But besides all this there ensueth another Argument more evident in my Opinion than any of the rest hitherto alleged for overthrowing of this Fable which is That about 170 years after this devised Election of Pope Joan to wit upon the year of Christ 1020 the Church and Patriarchs of Constantinople being in some Contention with Rome Pope Leo IX wrote a long Letter to Michaell Patriarch of Constantinople reprehending certain abuses of that Church and among other that they were said to have promoted Eunuchs to Priesthood and thereby also a greater inconvenience fallen out which was that a Woman had crept in to be Patriarch which yet he saith that for the horror of the Fact he would not believe Absit saith he ut velimus credere quod publica fama non dubitat asserere c. God forbid we should believe that which public Fame doubteth not to affirm which is that the Church of Constantinople by promoting Eunuchs to Priesthood against the Canon of the Council of Nice promoted once a Woman to the Bishops See which is so abominable a thing as the horror thereof doth not permit us to believe it c. 29. Thus wrote he which no doubt he would never have dar'd to do if the Patriarch of Constantinople might have returned the matter back upon him again and said This was but a slanderous report falsly raised against the Church of Constantinople but that a Woman indeed had been promoted in the Roman Church How could Pope Leo have answered this Reply Wherefore most certain it seemeth that at this time there was not so much as any rumour or mention of any Woman Pope that ever had been in the Roman Church this being 250 years before Martinus Polonus wrote for which cause also it is thought very probably that this rumour of the Church of Constantinople might be the occasion of the Tale raised after against Rome for that Martinus Polonus being a very simple Man and living so long after as hath been said and hearing an uncertain fame of a Woman promoted to Chief Priesthood might ascribe that to Rome which belonged to Constantinople which being once written by him passed to others after him and so came to our Heretics 30. Finally howsoever this be of the first occasion or invention of the Fable certain it is that most evidently it is a Fable and that if other Arguments failed yet there be so many Incongruities Simplicities Absurdities Varieties and Contrarieties in the very Narration it self as it discovers the whole matter to be a meer Fable and Fiction indeed and a rumour of vulgar people without ground For Martinus Polonus beginneth his Narration thus Post Leonem sedit Joannes Anglus Natione Margantinus After Leo III. sate John English by Nation a Margantine but where this Country of Margantia is no man can tell And it followeth Quae alibi legitur fuisse Benedictus III. which other where is read to be Benedictus III. So as this man seemeth to confound him with Benedict and consequently ascribeth to him the same time of his Reign that is assigned to Benedictus to wit two years and five months and yet presently after he saith That Benedictus was a Roman Son to Pratolus c. 31. Platina that took it out of this Man to make the Tale somewhat more probable beginneth thus Joannes Anglicus ex Maguntiaco oriundus c. John of England born at Maguntiacum c. Then how could he be John or Joan of England if he were born at Maguntiacum and where is this Maguntiacum and how doth it agree with Margantinus used by Polonus But then come in the Magdeburgians and say contrary that he was Moguntinus oriundus ex Anglia of Moguntia in Germany born in England And contrary to this Bibliander another German Sectary contradicteth that again saying in his Chronicles That he was not born in England but brought up and studied there And so you see their contradiction about the place both of Birth and Country 32. But besides this there are infinit other disagreements and inconveniences in this Story for that some do feign him to be Joannes VIII some IX John Fox saith That she was called Gilberta before and that she went with an English Monk out of the Abbey of Fulda in Germany to Athens and there studied in Mans Apparel whereas it is known that Athens at that time had no School in it all nor in any many years before If she were bred also or brought up in England or went in an English Monk's Company as Fox saith and if she were an English Priest's Daughter as the Magdeburgians devise it is like that Prince Alfred or some of his Train residing then in Rome as before hath been said would have heard or known of the matter 33. But John Fox goeth further and telleth us out of his fingers ends That the Cardinals forsooth met solemnly after the death of Leo IV. said their Mass of the Holy Ghost and so proceeded to their ordinary Election and brought forth Gilberta c. But this is all scoffing Foolery for that Cardinals had not the Election of Popes at that time And he that will read the foresaid Anastasius Bibliothecarius that was present at the Election of Pope Benedictus and describeth the particulars thereof shall see another manner of Election in use at that day by the whole Clergy Moreover he shall see that the Custom was not to choose at that time any but such as were known and try'd men and such as had lived for the most part of their Life in Rome it self and had given great satisfaction in their Manners and behav'd themselves well in other inferior Ecclesiastical Charges laid upon them 34. All which being so let any man of reason tell me how it is possible to imagine that men of those times were so fond and absurd as to choose to so high a Dignity among them an unknown Man or Woman whose Parents and Country were not known nor proof had of their Conversation and much more that
they would choose such a person as this is reported to be having wandred the World up and down with a Monk as Fox affirmeth How could all this lie hidden Was there none that either by Countenance Voice or other Actions of hers could suspect this Fraud How happened her own Lovers had not discover'd her or her Incontinent Life How could she pass through Priesthood and other Ecclesiastical Orders How by so many under Offices and Degrees as they must before they come to be Popes without descrying 35. And finally not to stand upon more Improbabilities either this Pope Joan was young or old when she was chosen If she were young that was against the Custom to choose young Popes as may appear by the great number of Popes that lived in that Dignity above the number of Emperours that succeeded often in their Youth besides it is a most unlikely thing that the whole Roman Clergy would choose a Pope without a Beard especially a Stranger But if she were old when she was chosen then how did she bear a Child publicly in Procession as our Heretics affirm How did they not discern her to be a Woman or an Eunuch seeing she had no Beard in her Old Age. 36. Again how could she be nine months with Child in that place without being discovered or suspected by some How durst she go forth in public Procession when she knew her self to be so near her time How is she said to have gone from the Palace of St. Peter to St. John Lateran whereas the Popes lay not then in the Vatican at St. Peters but at St. John Lateran it self Finally there are so many fond Improbabilities and moral Impossibilities in this Tale especially being joyned with the grave Testimonies of so many ancient Authors and Historiographers as before we have recited to the contrary as no man of any mean judgment discretion or common sense will give credit thereto but will easily see the vanity of so ridiculous a Fiction Wherefore this shall suffice for the Confutation of this Heretical Fable tho' as before hath been shewed if it were or had been true yet no prejudice could come to Us thereby that hold No Woman good or bad can be Head of our Church CHAP. VI. The Narration of English Ecclesiastical Affairs during this fourth station or distinction of Time is continued and the Absurdities of John Fox are discovered WHerefore now we shall return to follow the Thread of John Fox's Story again And whereas you asked me before What indeed the poor Fellow performeth in this his Third Book I now will answer as then I began to say That in very deed he meerly trifleth out the time handling noting of that he should have done of the orderly Descent Race or Course of the Church but telling us impertinent and trivial matters and for the most part not Ecclesiastical but Temporal to be found in every Chronicler to wit certain scraps of the Lives of our English Kings from King Egbert Ethelwolf Ethelbald Ethelred Alured and the rest unto King Edward the Confessor and so to William the Conqueror censuring every Prince when he speaketh of spiritual matters for their belief actions and doings in Religion As for Example reprehending them for that they builded so many Monasteries and much more for that so many of them and their Children entred to be Monks and Nuns that they gave so much Lands Livings and Privileges to Abbeys and Churches and for that they went on Pilgrimages offered Alms for their Sins ordained Masses to be said for them when they were dead that they believed so easily Miracles went to Shrift humbled themselves to Priests and other such-like Religious Actions which do greatly displease Fox 2. And to shew you some few Examples he beginneth first with Ethelwolf Son to King Egbert misliking a certain Donation of Lands which he gave to the Church in his time for Alms to pacifie as he saith God's wrath thereby the sooner for diverting the cruel Persecution and Inundation of the Danes which had begun in his Father King Egbert's time and endured still to the utter Desolation of the Land. His words are these Post multiplices tribulationes ad affligendum usque ad internecionem Ego Ethelwolfus Rex c. After many Tribulations afflicting us even to death I king Ethelwolf together with the Council of my Bishops and Princes have taken this wholsom and agreeable resolution to give some Portion of the Land of my Inheritance unto God and the B. Virgin Mary and to all the rest of his Saints to be possessed by them for ever c. to the end that they may pour out Prayers for us to God so much the more diligently c. 3. Thus far John Fox tho' William of Malmsbury doth relate the same far differently and much more largely telling what Bishops were present at the making of this Chart to wit Alstane Bishop of Shirbourn afterward translated to Salisbury and Swithin Bishop of Winchester and what Psalms and Masses were appointed by the said Bishops for the King in respect of these Alms and the like All which do greatly displease John Fox but help him nothing at all but disgraceth rather his new Church this happening in the year of Christ 844. 4. The like Donation doth Fox recite out of William of Malmsbury made by Ethelbald King of the Mercians some years before to wit about the year of Christ 740 where he saith Ego Ethelbaldus Merciorum Rex pro amore Coelestis Patriae c. I Ethelbald King of the Mercians for the love I have to my Heavenly Country and for the health of my Soul have thought good to study how by good works I may free the same from the chains of sin Wherefore seeing Almighty God for his Mercy and Clemency without any precedent Merit of mine hath given me my Crown of this Government I do willingly out of that which he hath given me restore to him again by way of Alms that which followeth c. 5. Thus far that good King which greatly also misliketh John Fox And he saith in particular that two things do much offend him in these Donations to Churches and Monasteries The first That they should erect these Monasteries of Monks Nuns saith he to live solely and singly by themselves out of the holy state of Matrimony And secondly That unto this their Zeal and Devotion was not joyned the knowledge of Christ's Gospel especially in the Article of our free Justification by the Faith of Jesus Christ 6. Lo here what two quarrels our Fox hath pick'd out against these ancient Christians The first That so many did profess the holy State of Virginity and Continency The other That by doing so many good works they lacked the knowledge of the Protestants Gospel which justifieth by Faith only without good works But they might answer with St. James Thou hast Faith and I have Works shew me thy Faith without Works and I
will shew thee my Faith by Works And that these good works did proceed of Faith contrary to the Cavil of John Fox is evident by those pious words of the King where he saith Seeing Almighty God of his Mercy and Clemency without any precedent Merit of mine hath given me my Crown I do willingly restore to him again c. 7. But Fox goeth forward in jesting at the said King Ethelwolf saying That he that had been once nuzl'd up in his Youth among Priests he was always good and devout to holy Church c. And then passeth he on to shew How after he had established matters in his own Kingdom he went to Rome and carried with him his little Son Alured or Alfred committing him to the bringing up of Pope Leo IV. as before hath been said where also he re-edified the English School founded by King Offa and destroy'd by Fire a little before under King Egbert Moreover he gave saith Fox yearly to be paid in Rome 300 Marks to be distributed in this manner 100 Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Peter 's Church and another hundred Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Paul 's Church and the third hundred to be disposed in good works at the Pope's appointment At all which Fox jesteth also merrily building his Church by these Mocks and Mews 8. And to like effect he reciteth a Miracle registred by William Malmsbury and by the Charter of King Ethelstone Son and Heir to King Edward the elder which King having escaped a great Danger at Winchester where one of his Subjects named Duke Alfred and other of his Nobles conspiring together presently after his Father's Death would have put out his eyes But he escaping that Danger took the said Alfred Prisoner and for that he denied that he had any such intention the good King thought there was no better Trial than to send him to Rome to Pope John XI to be try'd by a solemn religious Oath before him The Pope made him swear before St. Peter's Altar who forswearing the said Conspiracy fell down presently before the said Altar in the sight of all the People and was carried thence in the arms of his Servants to the aforesaid School or English-men where he died the third night after wherewith the Pope and all Rome remain'd astonished and the Pope sent presently into England to know of the King whether he would pardon him and suffer his Body to be buried in Christian Sepulcher which King Ethelston after consultation had with the rest of his Nobility and by the earnest intercession of Duke Alfred's Friends was content that he should be so buried but yet by Sentence of the whole Realm the Possessions of the said Alfred were adjudg'd to the King's use who bestow'd them all upon Churches and Monasteries to the Honor of God and St. Peter which had given this Judgment in the Controversie 9. All this is testified by the said King's Charter recorded by Will. of Malmsb. and recited by Fox and the said Charter towards the end hath these words Et sic judicata est mihi tot a possessio ejus in magnis modicis quam Deo Sancto Petro dedi nec justius novi quà m Deo Sancto Petro hanc possessionem dare qui emulum meum in conspectu omnium cadere fecerunt mihi prosperitatem Regni largiti sunt And by this means the whole Possession both great and small of Duke Alfred was adjudged unto me which I gave unto God and to St. Peter nor do I know to whom I should more justly give the same than to God and to St. Peter who made my Adversary to fall down in the sight of all men and gave unto me the Prosperity of my Kingdom Thus wrote he about the year of Christ 933 as John Fox counteth and I marvel he would relate this Story being so much against himself and his Religion and in confirmation of ours as it is for that it sheweth that God and St. Peter in those days wrought Miracles in Rome when Fox saith that the Faith and Religion of Rome was far out of order from the true Gospel But this is the misery and calamity of this poor Fellow and his Cause as often before I have noted that either he must write nothing at all of these Times and Ages or else he must write Testimonies against himself 10. I will give you one short Example more where he allegeth us a Narration of a very old Writer which he saith he had in Manuscript lent him by one named William Carre and thereupon he citeth it still by the name of Historia Cariana this Story being written as it seemeth in those Ages and of the Miseries that happened to England by the Incursions of Danes and other Infidels seeketh out the causes of God's wrath in this behalf saying thus In Anglorum quidem Ecclesia primitiva Religio clarissimè splenduit c. In the primitive Church of England Religion did most clearly shine insomuch that Kings Queens Princes Dukes Consuls Barons and Rulers of Churches incensed with the desire of the Kingdom of Heaven laboured and stirred as it were amongst themselves to enter into Monastical Life and into voluntary Exile and Solitariness forsaking all to follow their Lord where in process of time all Virtue so much decay'd among them that in Fraud and Treachery none seemed like unto them neither was to them any thing odious or hateful but Piety and Justice nor any thing in price and honor but Civil War and shedding Blood Wherefore Almighty God sent upon them Pagan And Cruel Nations like swarms of Bees 11. This relateth Fox out of his Carian Story and I know not to what end he should relate it but only to shew that while English-men lived Godly according to the fashion of their primitive Church they esteemed and honored highly Religious and Monastical Life and many leaving the World with the Pleasures and Possessions thereof entred into that Religious Course endeavoring to follow and imitate their Lord and Master therein and that so long was England happy and blessed by God To which effect if John Fox do allege the same then is it evident what a good Conclusion he doth make against himself his Religion at this day that are such professed Enemies to that kind of life so highly here commended and consequently the Relator thereof doth shew himself to be as well John Fool as John Fox not considering what maketh for him or against him 12. But to the end that we should not think that he hath made Peace or Friendship with Monks for all this or that he liketh their Life or Profession any thing the better for so many praises given them by ancient Authors he scoldeth at them every where and upon every occasion writing over the Pages and Titles of his Book these Superscriptions Monks Superstitious Monks Monks married Monks meer Lay-men in old times and the like
And if I should number up the manifest Lies which the miserable and poor spiteful Fellow inventeth for some shew of proof you would take pity of Him and not of the Monks You shall hear one short Discourse of his about them and thereby you may judge of the rest 13. Monks saith he were nothing else in old time but Lay-men leading a more stricter Trade of Life as may sufficiently appear by Augustin lib. de moribus Ecclesiae cap. 3. Item lib. de oper Monachorum Item Ep. ad Aurelium Also by Hieron ad Heliodorum writing these words Alia Monachorum est causa alia Clericorum Clerici pascunt Oves ego pascor One thing pertaineth to Monks another thing to them of the Clergy They of the Clergy feed the Flock I am fed c. By all which is evident that Monks were no other in former Ages of the Church but only Lay-men differing from Priests c. 14. Thus writeth Fox which alone were sufficient to shew his peevish Fraud and Folly in all his Writings For albeit St. Augustin in the places by him quoted had written any such thing as he affirmeth which is quite false and so shall the Reader find that will examin the places yet the very words of St. Hierom by Fox himself adjoyned do clearly interpret both his own and St. Augustin's meaning and convince Fox for a meer malevolent Caviller for that St. Hierom doth not deny that Monks are Clergy-men or Priests for then he should deny himself to have been a Priest or of the Clergy seeing he confesseth himself to be a Monk but his meaning is to shew the different End and Office of some Clergy-men to wit Secular Priests and Bishops that have care of Souls from Monks for that the one do attend principally to Action the other to Contemplation the one to Preaching the other to Praying the one to feed others the others to be fed in which latter number St. Hierom for humility putteth also himself whom yet I think John Fox will not affirm to have been a meer Lay-man and not Priest and Clergy-man And so is this cavil of his against Monks that in old time they were Lay-men shewed to be most vain and malicious For what will he say of St. Basil St. Nazianzen St. Augustin St. Gregory were they not Monks Priests and Bishops also how then were Monks meerly Lay-men in old time 15. The like notorious Folly conjoyn'd with Falshood he useth to prove married Monks alleging St. Athanasius's words Epist ad Diacont qui ait se novisse Monachos Episcopos conjuges liberorum patres who saith that he knew both Monks and Bishops married men and Fathers of Children But what proveth this Do not we see every day even now in our Church both Bishops Priests and Religious men that have once been married and some of them also to have had Children and after the death of their Wives to have entred into Ecclesiastical and Religious Orders What fond deluding of his Reader is this He should have proved that they had married after they had been Priests or Monks and then had he said somewhat But this he could not do and so thought best to make a fond flourish of the other 16. Nay in the very Greek Church at this day where Priests are permitted that were married before tho' their Wives be living yet if their said Wives die they are not permitted to marry again And as for Monks out of which Order only Bishops are made in that Church they were never permitted to marry after their profession of Religion Nay St. Epiphanius a chief Pillar of that Church when it was perfectly Catholic about 1200 years agone saith plainly as the Magdeburgians also allege him That the holy Church of God admitted not in his days any man to Priesthood or Episcopal Dignity that either married the second time or did not abstain from conversation with his first Wife if she lived after he was admitted to Priesthood Revera saith he non suscipit sancta Dei praedicatio post Christi adventum eos qui à nuptiis mortua ipsorum uxore secundis nuptiis conjuncti sunt propter excellentem Sacerdotii Honorem Dignitatem Et haec certè Sancta Dei Ecclesia cum sinceritate observat c. In very truth the holy preaching of God after the coming of Christ doth not admit those to be Priests who after their first Marriage and their Wife dead do joyn themselves again in second Marriage And this doth the holy Church of God observe with sincerity in respect of the excellent Honor and Dignity of Priesthood c. So saith Epiphanius and addeth presently Sed adhuc viventem liberos gignentem c. But further than this the said holy Church of Christ doth not admit to Priesthood a man of one Wife if he live and get Children as before but only she admitteth Him to be a Deacon Priest Bishop or Subdeacon especially where the Clergy is sincere who is content to contain from his Wife that he used before or live in Widowhood if his Wife be dead 17. Thus writeth this holy Doctor not only of his own Judgment but of the whole Consent of the Universal Catholic Church in his days not only of Monks that make a more strict profession of Chastity but of all Clergy-men also that lived in Holy Orders to wit Subdeacons Deacons Priests and Bishopss Of whom thus much be spoken by occasion of John Fox his notorious Lye That Monks were only Lay men and married in old time And by this we may see his affection towards Them and their Profession And there were no end if I should prosecute all his peevish picking of quarrels against them upon every occasion or without occasion thereby to shew his Heretical Stomach in that behalf One only Example I will shew you more and so make an end 18. There is a Story recorded by William of Malmsbury and other ancient authentical Authors as Fox himself confesseth touching our foresaid famous English King Alfred fourth Son to the forenamed King Ethelwolf and Nephew to King Egbert brought up in Rome by Pope Leo IV. as hath been said who being driven into great Extremities by the Conquest of the Danes against him was relieved and comforted by the appearance of St. Cuthbert miraculously foretelling him what should succeed in those Wars and confirming the same with other Predictions also which afterwards were fulfilled Which Story tho' it be one of the most rare that is to be read in our English Histories and with most comfort also by him that will consider it with attention and indifferency and testified also unto us as authentically as any Story may be in this kind not only by the said Malmsbury above 500 years agone but by divers others in like manner and of like credit as Fox himself is forced to confess yet for that St. Cuthbert principal Actor therein was an unmarried Monk he cannot
to praise God after the imitation of King David hanging up by his Bed-side on a Pin upon the Wall he heard one night a voice of Angels sing in his Church this Verse Gaudent in Coelis animae Sanctorum at which time his said Harp also gave a sound of it self moved either by the said Angels or otherwise by Miracle from God. Whereat John Fox in his Heretical Vein maketh much Pastime tho' as already you have heard and shall do more in the third Part of this Book he esteemeth highly certain devised Miracles of his miserable Martyrs And so much of this 34. But now as touching the principal Point of all this Discourse which ought to have been the visible deduction of his Church from King Egbert to William the Conqueror there is not one word spoken for all that he writeth is of our Church and this in Lyes Fables Scoffs and Taunts as you see but of his own Church nothing no not so much as of any one person that in all agreed with him or his Church in these days concerning Religion Nay let him shew us any one Man Woman or Child Heretic or Catholic in all this time who was fully of the Religion now held in England and that these believed no more nor less than Fox and his Fellows do at this day and we will yield that he hath brought us forth some visible Church and Succession thereof tho' it be but of three or four persons 35. Lo with how little we are content And seeing Fox will not dare nor any man for him in my opinion to take upon him this Enterprize to wit to shew the succession of any three or four persons throughout the space of this first 1000 years after Christ who did in all things believe and profess the Faith and Religion that now is held in England whereunto also John Fox himself agreed fully while he lived as may appear by the Puritanical Points in his Story which he commendeth and defendeth in the Lives of Rogers Hooper and other their first English Parents as after shall be shewed Forsomuch I say as this is so and that never any three persons of what Condition Religion Sex or Sect soever can be shewed to have agreed fully in the Protestants Religion that now in England is professed not only for the time of these first thousand years of Christianity but neither for the other five hundred next following nor that our English Protestants of these days will bind themselves in all and every Point of Doctrin Faith and Belief to stand to any one visible Congregation Church Conventicle Society or number of men whatsoever professing the Name of Christ that have been known to live upon Earth from the Apostles time downward but that they do vary from them in one Article of Belief or other 36. If all this I say be true and most certain and made evident by this our deduction and that we offer to joyn any further Issue that shall be demanded with any Protestant living upon this point that shall have any thing to say or reply in this matter This being so then is it evident what a Succession of the Protestants Church John Fox bringeth or is able to bring down or any man for him notwithstanding his vain brag and flourish in the first Title of his Book That he would set down the whole race and course of the Church c. The Folly and Falshood of which flourish shall better also appear by that which ensueth from the Conquest downward CHAP. VII The fifth station of Time containing other Three hundred years from William the Conquerour unto the time of John Wickliff wherein is examined Whether the Catholic Roman Church did perish in this time as Fox affirmeth Here is treated also of Pope Hildebrand and of the Marriage of Priests YOU have seen good Reader by our former Treatse how brief and barren John Fox hath been hitherto in relating unto us Ecclesiastical matters for more than a thousand years For tho' he promised in the first Title of his Book as before you have heard that he would set forth at large the whole race and course of the Church from the primitive Age unto these latter Times of ours c. And again in another Title that he was to lay before us the Acts and Monuments of Christian Martyrs and matters Ecclesiastical passed in the Church of Christ from the primitive beginning to these our days as well in other Countries as namely in the Realms of England and also of Scotland discoursed at large c. yet this large Discourse for more than a thousand years is concluded by him in less than seventy Leaves of Paper whereof almost fifty are of impertinent matter to wit of certain Differences which he would pick out between the old Roman Church and that which is now and in the relation of the first Ten Persecutions under Heathen Emperours which before we have declared how little they appertain to his Argument or Subject taken in hand which was to set down the race and course of the whole Church And this being so you may consider what store of Ecclesiastical matters he findeth to his purpose in these first thousand years seeing he scarce spendeth thirty whole Leaves therein whereof also the far greater part I mean of that he writeth in these few Leaves is meer temporal or impertinent as in part you have heard And how then doth he tell us of Ecclesiastical matters discoursed at large c. and of the whole race and course of the Church set forth largely by him c. Do you see how these men do face and lye to deceive their Readers 2. But let us not complain I pray you of brevity or barrenness in John Fox nor lack of Volume seeing he hath set forth the greatest perhaps that ever was in our English Tongue And if he have been over-short for the thousand years past unto the time of William the Conqueror he will as much exceed in length now for the other five hundred years that are to ensue from the Conqueror to Queen Elizabeth upon which time he bestoweth above 900 Leaves And the reason of this so notable difference or inequality is that which we have touched before to wit that he finding the whole course of these former Times and Ages of the Christian Church to be against him nor daring openly to reject that Church nor manifestly to joyn with her Enemies adjudg'd by her for Heretics he chose to speak as little of those Times and Affairs as he could But now he hath taken another resolution much more desperate in hand which is to deny Our Church to be any longer a Church and to set up another of His in her place by which means he will come to have matter enough for that this being supposed and he presuming that all the Acts and Monuments of this Church I mean the General Roman Church receiv'd hitherto
throughout the World for Christ's Church are wicked and rebellious unto God and Acts of the Devil's Synagogue from the time that John Fox assigneth of her Fall and Apostacy and that on the contrary side all the Writings Actions and Gests of all sorts of Heretics against this Church from that time are the Acts and Monuments of the true Church of Christ Supposing all this I say as Fox doth there cannot want matter either on the one side or the other to fill up Volumes And the lower he passeth downward the more matter he findeth for that Sects and Sectaries increasing daily whom he registreth for Saints and Pillars of his Church the Volume of his Book must needs grow greatly And so is it seen by this fourth Book wherein from the Conquest to the latter-end of King Edward III's Reign when Wickliff began containing 300 years to wit from Anno Domini 1066 to 1370 there are spent above 100 Leaves of Paper which is much more than was in the former 1066 years But in the fifth Book from John Wickliff's time to King Henry VIII which are but 140 years are contained upon the point of 200 Leaves and then again from the beginning of King Henry's Reign to the entrance of Q. Elizabeth being but fifty years he spendeth above 600 Leaves And by this you may judge both of the Subject and Substance of John Fox's huge Volume tho' we are to look into the same somewhat more particularly also as we pass it over in this and the ensuing Chapters 3. Well then this being his device and resolution for the present to have no longer patience with our Church but wholly to deny the same his greatest difficulty seemeth to be about the Time and Causes to wit where or when or how or upon what occasion she perished or vanished away for seeing she hath continued by his Confession also for so many Years and Ages and come down unto our days under the self-same Succession of Bishops Pastors and Teachers as before and consequently also with the self-same Doctrin and Religion and with the same external Power and Majesty which it was wont it seemeth a very hard thing upon the sudden either to annihilate so Great and Mighty a Kingdom or which is much more difficult to make so strange a Metamorphosis and Mutation in her as that she having been hitherto the Church of Christ his Spouse his Kingdom his dearest Beloved and beautified with his Graces directed by his Spirit enriched with his most precious Gifts and Endowments and so acknowledged also by Fox ' himself in former Ages that now she should become Christ's Enemy and Adversary upon the sudden and the Kingdom of Satan his Eternal Foe and yet to retain still the Name Place Estimation and external Dignity which she had before professing with no less shew of duty her Obedience and Love to Christ than in former times she was wont This Change and Metamorphosis I say is most wonderful and incredible to all those that believe Christ to be God and to have been able to perform his promise that Hell-gates should never prevail against this Church Wherefore we are to examin somewhat more diligently in this Chapter how this matter could fall out and when and by what occasion come to pass for that so great and rare a Mutation as this is never fell out yet in the World before Tho' Temporal States and Kingdoms have had their changes nay all temporal mutations of Empires Kingdoms States and Monarchies have been made principally to shew the contrary stability and immutable continuation of Christ's Church once planted in the World as in part we have declared before shewing how that in all times and seasons in all variety and variations of States People Countries and Dominions as well in England as elsewhere the Christian Catholic Religion remained one and the same among them all To which effect also is that notable Prophesie of Daniel when foretelling first the breaking and overthrow of all four Monarchies by him mentioned he addeth as a notorious opposition to the same the stability and immortality of Christ's Church and Kingdom once set on foot in these words In the days of these Kingdoms God of Heaven shall raise up a Kingdom that shall never be dissipated neither shall this Kingdom be given to another people This Kingdom shall consume and wear out all the other Kingdoms but it self shall stand for ever 4. Thus saith Daniel and the most of these Points we have seen verified and fulfilled already for God of Heaven hath raised this Kingdom and visible Church of Christ which then seemed a strange matter he hath increased and continued the same for a thousand years and more as Fox will confess which is a longer time than any Temporal Monarchy lightly hath continued without change he hath overthrown in this time and consumed the other Kingdoms and Monarchies mentioned by him Now remain the other two Clauses to be fulfilled in like manner to wit That it shall stand for ever or as Christ expoundeth it usque and consummationem saeculi to to the Worlds end and then quod alteri populo non tradetur that this Kingdom shall not be delivered over to another People from that which possessed it from the beginning The quite contrary whereof teacheth here John Fox affirming this Church that hath been accounted the true Church and Kingdom of Christ for a thousand years past is now no more his Church or Kingdom nor these Popes Bishops and Pastors that are found in her to have come down by continual Succession are now no more the true and lawful Guides or Governors thereof but that it appertaineth to others and consequently this Kingdom of Christ is taken from them and delivered to another People to wit to the Berengarians to the Waldenses to the Albanenses to the Wickliffians Lutherans Zuinglians and other like people of latter Ages 5. This is John Fox his mad Assertion wherein you see he should prove two Points First That our Church is lost and fallen and our Men rightly dispossessed of the Interest thereof And then That his Men to wit these new Sectaries have entred into a just possession of that Name and Title of the true Church Both which Points we deny You shall see how he beginneth to prove the first that is to say the Fall and Overthrow of the Universal visible Church sirnamed the Roman And thus hitherto saith he stood the condition of the Church of Christ meaning the next Ages before the Conquest albeit not without some repugnance and difficulty yet in some mean state of the Truth and Verity till the time of Pope Hildebrand called Gregory VII which was near about the year 1080. and of Pope Innocentius III. in the year 1215. by whom all was turned upside down all Order broken true Doctrin defaced Christian Faith extinguished c. 6. Here you see John Fox to assign two Times and two Popes when and
by whom not only the true Church was overthrown but Christian Faith also utterly extinguished to wit Gregory VII and Innocentius III. two of the most Renowned men both for Vertue and Learning that have possessed that See since the time of our Conquest or in many Ages before if we will believe all the ancient Authors that have written of them wherein I dare joyn Issue with Fox or any of his Cubs whatsoever that will defend him in this notorious slander against these two worthy Men For as for Innocentius III. he is affirmed to have been one of the most excellent Popes for good Life and rare Learning that for these thousand years held that See. Of whom Blondus amongst other Authors writeth thus Suavissimus erat in Galliis famae odor gravitatis sanctitatis ac vevum gestarum ejus Pontificis c. The fame and scent of this Pope's Gravity Holiness of Life and Greatness of his Action was most sweet throughout all France c. And for his Learning the same Author saith Libros Doctrina plenos scripsit He wrote most Learned Books In which kind divers Authors do report that he wrote more than most of the other Popes of Rome before his time put together 7. And as for Gregory VII albeit he had many Enemies stirred up against him by the Emperour Henry IV. and others whom he sought to punish and reform for their Misbehavior yet if we will believe the chief Authors of that Age and those that lived either with him or next unto him as Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury Marianus Scotus Otho Frisingensis Aeneas Sylvius Lambertus Schafaaburgensis Vincentius Gallus Abbas Vrspergensis Aventinus Sigibertus Tritemius and many others he was not only very Learned Wise and a Man of great Courage in resisting the foresaid most dissolute Emperour that lived scandalously and oppressed the Church but also he was reputed of a most holy Life insomuch as God wrought divers Miracles by him 8. The very form of his Election recorded by Platina Sabellicus and others doth shew what he was when they say Elegimus hodie 21 Maii Anno Domini 1072 in verum Christi Vicarium Hildebrandum Archidiaconum virum multae Doctrinae magnae Pietatis Prudentiae Justitiae Constantiae Religionis c. We have chosen this day the 21st of May 1072 for true Vicar of Christ a Man of much Learning great Piety Prudence Justice Constancy and Religion c. This was the testimony of the whole Clergy of Rome that knew him better than John Fox and his Fellows Against whom Lambertus Schafnaburgensis talking of his whole Life afterwards saith Signa Prodigia quae per Grationes Gregorii Papae frequentius fiebant zelus ejus fervent issimus pro Deo Ecclesiasticis legibus satis eum contra venenatas detractorum linguas communiebant The Signs and Miracles which oftentimes were done by the Prayers of Pope Gregory VII and his most fervent Zeal for the Honor of God and defence of Ecclesiastical Laws did sufficiently defend him against the venemous Tongues of Detractors 9. Vincentius also Gallus in his History relateth out of a more ancient Historiographer than himself named Gulielmus Historicus Hildebrandum dono prophetiae praeditum fuisse That Hildebrand the Pope was endued with the gift of Prophesie which he sheweth by divers particular Examples of Events foretold by him And this of Gregory VII 10. But what do the same Authors yea Germans themselves write of their Emperour his Enemy Henry IV. Surely it is shameful to report his Adulteries Symoniacal selling of Benefices Robberies and spoiling of poor particular men thrusting in wicked men into places of Prelates and the like Principes Regni rogat saith Lambertus ut patiantur ipsum Vxorem repudiare c. He did request the Princes of the Empire that they would suffer him to put away his Wife telling them what the Pope by his Legat had opposed to the contrary Which being heard by them they were of the Pope's Opinion Principes aiebant aequè censere Rom. Pontificem ita fractus magis quà m inflexus Rex ab incepto abstinuit The Princes affirmed That the Bishop of Rome had reason to determin as he did and so the King rather forced than changed in mind abstained from his purposed Divorce 11. Lo here the first beginning of falling out betwixt the Emperour and the Pope which was increased for that two years after as the same Author saith the Pope deprived one Charles for Symony and Theft to whom the Emperor had sold for Money the Bishopric of Constance And this he did by a Council of Prelates and Princes held in Germany it self the Emperour being present Cùm etiam saith he Rex in Judicio assideret causamque Caroli quoad posset tueretur Bishop Charles was deposed notwithstanding that the King was present in that Judgment and defended him and his Cause as much as he could And this was an increase of the falling out between them But the constancy saith the same Author and invincible mind of Hildebrand against Covetousness did exclude all Arguments of Human Deceits and Subtilties 12. Vrspergensis in like manner who lived in the same time reckoneth up many particulars of the Emperour 's wicked behaviour in these words Coepit Principes despicere Nobiles opprimere He began to despise the Princes oppress the Nobles and Nobility and give himself to Incontinency Which Aventinus an Author not misliked by the Protestants uttereth more particularly in these words Henricum stupris amoribus impudicitiae adulterii flagrasse infamia nec amici quidem negant The very friends of Henry the Emperour do not deny but that he was infamous for his wicked life in Lechery Fornication and Adultery 13. And finally not to name any more Marianus Scotus that lived in those days writeth thus of the whole Controversie between them Gregory VII saith he being stirred up by the just clamors of Catholic Men and hearing the immanity of Henry the Emperour's wickedness cry'd out against by them did excommunicate him for the same but especially for the sin of Simony in buying and selling Bishoprics which fact of the Pope did like very well all good Catholic men but displeased such as would buy and sell Benefices and were favourers of the said Emperour 14. And thus much be spoken of the Learning Lives and Vertue of these two particular Popes Gregory VII and Innocentius III. whom John Fox would needs have us believe that they had overturned God's Church and extinguished Christian Religion utterly in the World. But especially he rageth every where and with greatest acerbity against Gregory VII dilating himself in many large Discourses of that Argument and telling so many and apparent Lyes of Him and his Acts and Ends as were a matter incredible to him that hath not examined them Neither may I stand to recount them all or the greater part for it would require a Volume but by one
or two you shall be able to judge of the rest I read and find saith Fox that in a Council held at Rome by Pope Hildebrand and other Bishops they did enact three things First That no Priest hereafter should marry Wives Secondly That all such as were married should be divorced Thirdly That none hereafter should be admitted to the Order of Priesthood but should swear perpetual Chastity 15. Truly it is a strange thing to see and consider the wilful obstinacy and precipitation of Heretics Fox hath gathered out three Points decreed in this Council which Council yet he citeth not nor any Author for it and so with more safety he playeth the Davus He leaveth out a fourth Point which was the principal or rather only Point touching Priests Marriage handled in that Council to wit That what Priest soever should be known to keep a Concubine under pretence of his Wife or should be known to have bought his Benefice by Simony and would not repent or amend they were forbidden to enter the Church and say Mass and other men were forbidden to hear their Mass With which Decree many licentious Priests that would not be restrained from their loose Life being offended and many more Lay-men that depended on the said Emperour taking their part cried out against this good Pope for that he went about to reform these two scandalous Abuses Simony and Fornication in the worser sort of Priests And two notable Calumniations amongst others they raised against him The first That he did not hold the Mass to be good or available which was said by a Simoniacal or Adulterous Priest which he never said nor meant but only that for a punishment and in detestation of those sins he would have men to forbear the hearing of such Priests Masses seeing there wanted not other good Priests to supply their places and Functions Neither was he the first Pope that made the like Decree for punishing of Concubinary Priests by forbidding other men to hear their Masses for that both Pope Alexander II. and Nicholas II. his Predecessors made the same Decree as appeareth in their Canons yet extant 16. The other Calumniation against this Pope was this which Fox and the Magdeburgians do here set down That he was the first that began to forbid Marriage of Priests in the West-Church for so are the words of the Magdeburgians And hereupon hath John Fox framed out of the Council the three Points before mentioned as handled and decreed then which is false and passeth over the fourth with silence wherein the only Controversie consisteth And this appeareth in the Lines immediately following in Fox where he putteth down the Copy in English of Pope Gregory's Bull about this matter wherein he saith thus If there be any Priests Deacons or Subdeacons that will still remain in the sin of Fornication we forbid them the Churches entrance till they amend and repent but if they persevere in their sin we charge that none presume to hear their Service 17. By which words we see that Pope Gregory did not treat here as Fox saith That no Priest hereafter should marry Wives as tho' it had been in use or lawful before or that such as were married should be divorced by this new Decree And much less was it decreed now as Fox deviseth That none hereafter should be admitted to the Order of Priesthood but should swear perpetual Chastity All these Points I say are either feigned or fraudulently set down by our Fox as tho' these things had been in lawful use before and that now by Pope Gregory began this prohibition But you have heard by Pope Gregory's own words that he presumeth that all Priests that after Priesthood have Carnal Conversation with Women do live in Fornication according to the Doctrin Custom and Practice of the ancient Catholic Church of Christ And therefore where Fox useth the words Marriage and Lawful Wives Pope Gregory calleth it Fornication and Concubinary Life And so it is in the Canon Officium Simoniacorum in Fornicatione jacentium scienter nullo modo recipiatis Do you not wittingly admit the Office or Service of such Priests as live in Simony or Fornication And Tritemius relateth the matter thus Laicis interdixit ne Missas Sacerdotum Concubinas habentium audire praesumant Pope Gregory forbad Lay-men to hear the Mass of such Priests as were known to have Concubines 18. This then was the Controversie Whether Priests that lived with Women contrary to the ancient Canons of the Catholic Church were rightly punished by Pope Gregory Pope Alexander Pope Nicholas and some other Popes by debarring them to say Mass publicly or other men to hear their Masses The Controversie was not Whether it was lawful for them to marry or no or whether they should promise Chastity at their entrance into Priesthood For this Pope Gregory took as a thing determined from all Antiquity before him especially in the Latin Church And so testifieth Marianus Scotus that lived in his time Iste Papa saith he Sinodo facta ex decreto S. Petri Apostoli S. Clementis aliorumque Sanctorum Patrum vetuit interdixit Clericis maximè Divino Ministerio consecratis Vxores habere vel cum Mulieribus habitare nisi quas Nicena Synodus vel alii Canones exceperunt This Pope Gregory VII having made a Synod did according to the Decree of St. Peter the Apostle and St. Clement his Successor and of other holy Fathers forbid unto Clergy-men especially to such as were consecrated unto God's Service to have Wives or to dwell with Women excepting such only as the first Council of Nice and other Ecclesiastical Canons did except or permit 19. This testifieth Marianus of the Pope's intention and that he made his Decree according to the Decrees Canons meaning and practice of all holy Fathers his Predecessors from St. Peter downward in the Latin Church And if we go to the Council of Nice for the exception here mentioned what Women were allowed to dwell in house with Priests in those days we shall find all Women to be forbidden to live with Bishops Priests or Deacons praeter Matrem Sororem vel Amitam the Mother Sister or the Aunt But no mention at all of the Wife which should have been the first that should have been excepted by the Council if any such thing had been lawful or permitted in those days For albeit in the Greek Church where this Council was held some were made Priests that were married before yet were they never permitted to marry after they were Priests nor are they at this day And if we consider the whole stream of Greek Fathers in this behalf we shall see them no less by their Writings than by their Doings and Examples joyn with the Latin Church in this Point about the Continency of Priests and Bishops even from the beginning Illius solius est offerre Sacrificium saith Origen above 1400 years ago
qui perpetuae se devoverit Castitati To him only belongeth to offer Sacrifice who hath vowed himself to perpetual Chastity 20. Behold Sacrifice and vowing of Chastity in Priests of the Greek Church above 700 years before the time that Fox saith it was decreed first of all by Pope Gregory VII that they should not marry And Eusebius in the next Age after being one of them that were of the Council of Nice saith Eos qui sacrati sunt in Dei ministerio cultúque occupati continere deinceps seipsos à commercio Vxoris decet It becometh them that are consecrated and occupied in the Service of God to contain themselves for the time to come from all dealing with Wives There follow in the same Age with Eusebius divers other Fathers as St. Cyrill St. Gregory Nyssen St. Chrysostom St. Epiphany all which writing of this matter are of the same Opinion Qui apud Jesum bene fungitur Sacerdotio abstinet à Muliere saith St. Cyril He that performeth the Office of a Priest well in the sight of Jesus that is to say is a good Christian Priest doth abstain from all Women To like sense do write St. Gregory Nyssen lib. de Virginit cap. ult and St. Chrysostom hom 2. de patien Job And as for St. Epiphanius we have alleged him before as reprehended by the Magdeburgians for affirming this Rule of Priests Continency from Marriage to have been observed in his time throughout the whole Church with great sincerity wheresoever good Clergy-men were 21. It were in vain to allege the Latin Fathers for that our Enemies confess them to be all of the contrary judgment to them But when no other Argument were the very Example of so great a multitude of famous learned and holy Bishops Doctors Teachers and Preachers of those first Ages after Christ that lived Continent and were not married as St. Ignatius St. Polycarp Clemens Alexandrinus St. Athanasius St. Basil St. Gregory Nazianzen St. Chrysostom St. Epiphanius St. Cyril and many others of the Greek Church as also St. Cyprian St. Hillary St. Ambrose St. Hierom St. Augustin and above Fifty Popes of Rome held all for Saints and the most of them Martyrs in the Latin Church These Mens Example I say is a sufficient Argument to shew what was the Spirit of Christ in those days to him that hath any feeling thereof 22. But to say no more of this but to return to make an end of our speech of Pope Gregory VII whom our Protestants for his singular Vertue and Constancy in God's Cause cannot abide Fox concludeth thus of his death Antoninus writeth That Hildebrand as he lay a dying desired one of his Cardinals to go to the Emperour and desire of him forgiveness absolving both Him and his Partners from Excommunication c. And true it is that St. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence relateth some such thing upon other mens speeches saying Quod misit Cardinalem ad Imperatorem ad totam Ecclesiam ut optaret ei Indulgentiam That he sent the Cardinal to the Emperour and to all the Church to wish him Indulgence And what marvel if it had been so that a man lying at Deaths door would gladly be at peace with all the World But why hath not Fox set down the other words of Antoninus presently following Quae tamen vera esse non credo multis de causis Which yet for many causes I do not believe to be true Here you may see that Fox is still a Fox 23. Nauclerus reporteth That his last words lying on his Death-bed in Salerno were those of the Psalm Dilexi Justitiam odivi Iniquitatem propterea morior in exilio c. I have loved Justice and hated Iniquity and for this do I die in banishment being driven away from my See by the violence of the Emperour Thus wrote Nauclerus of him tho' a German adding these words Vir fuit Gregorius times Deum Justitiae Aequitatis amator in adversis constans Pope Gregory was a man that feared God a great lover of Justice and Equity constant in Adversity And Platina that flattereth not Popes as our Protestants do confess writing of him saith Vir certe Deo gratus c. Truly he was a man grateful to God Prudent Just Clement and a Patron of all Poor but especially of Pupils and Widows Cranzius also a German saith Henricus Gregorium septimum virum sanctum insectatus est Henry the Emperour persecuted Pope Gregory VII being a holy Man. 24. But to omit this and to speak no more of Popes Lives or Learning especially of these two Gregory and Innocentius so well known but only to consider their Faith and Belief for That principally indeed concerneth our purpose seeing that albeit they should be Wicked or Unlearned yet might they be true Popes I would ask John Fox What one Article of Belief any one of these two Popes living more than an hundred years the one after the other did they differ in from their Predecessors or were noted by their Successors for the same And if no such Article can be brought forth as most certainly there cannot how then could these two Popes either joyntly or severally overthrow so great a Church dispersed over all the World as was at that time the Roman and much more extinguish the whole Christian Faith as John Fox affirmeth 25. Is not this plain madness to affirm that any one or two Popes could overthrow a whole Church or extinguish Christian Faith especially living an hundred years one from the other as hath been said For if the first had done it then what needed the help of the second or if the same Church persevered in Christian Faith for an hundred years together after the first then did not he overthrow the same And yet doth John Fox delight himself so much in this Fancy that in divers places of his Book he foundeth his whole Discourses thereon as we shall see in the Chapter following CHAP. VIII Here followeth a dreaming Imagination of John Fox contrary to it self about the Fall of the Roman Church and Rising of Antichrist with the rest that remaineth of our Ecclesiastical History from the Conquest to Wickliff JOhn Fox taking upon him in his vein of fancy to distinguish Times and to determin when the Church of Rome fell sick and died when Antichrist was born and other like vain imaginations proving also the same by certain Revelations made unto himself as he lay on his Bed upon a Sunday in the morning he setteth down for a ground this distinction of Times in the very beginning of his Acts and Monuments in these words First saith he I will treat of the suffering time of the Church which continued from the Apostles Age about 300 years Secondly of the flourishing time of the Church which lasted other 300 years Thirdly of the declining time of the Church which comprehendeth also other 300 years until the loosing out
of Sathan which was 1000 years after the ceasing of the Persecution Fourthly followeth the time of Antichrist or the loosing of Sathan or desolation of the Church c. 2. Lo here John Fox maketh a different Account from the former as tho' the time of Antichrist and loosing of Sathan for overthrowing the true Church had begun much sooner than under Pope Gregory and Innocentius to wit from the year of Christ 900 which was almost 200 years before Gregory VII was born And yet doth he also contradict himself in this if you mark him for that he saith this loosing of Sathan was about the thousandth year after the ceasing of Persecution which ceasing being counted by Fox himself from the time of Constantine the Great when he saith Sathan was bound up for 1000 years the ending thereof must fall not upon the year of Christ 900 as in this his Account but rather upon the year of Christ 1300 at which time he was let forth again if we believe John Fox and had power given him not only to impugn but to overthrow the Church contrary to that which Christ had promised Matth. 16. That Hell-gates should not prevail against her 3. But let us see a third place where John Fox handleth this Mystery different from both these now alleged to wit in the beginning of his fifth Book from Wickliff downward where he maketh another Account yet of binding and loosing of Sathan and overthrowing the true Church And this forsooth out of the 20th Chapter of the Apocalypse by a large Text which having recited he saith thus By these words of the Revelation three special things are to be noted First the being abroad of Sathan Secondly his binding up and Thirdly the loosing out of him again after a thousand years consummate c. 4. Thus he hath there And then a little after he maketh his Account thus The binding up of Sathan after peace given to the Church counting from the 30th year of Christ was Anno Domini 294 which lasted for 1000 years until Anno 1294 about which year Pope Boniface VIII was made Pope and made the sixth Decretals confirmed the Order of Friars and privileged them with great freedom So writeth Fox and confirmeth his Sentence by certain old Verses written by a Monk as he saith which affirm that Cùm fuerint anni completi mille ducenti Et decies seni post partum Virginis Almae Tunc Antichristus nascetur Daemone plenus That is When a thousand two hundred and threescore years after the Virgins Child-birth shall be finished then shall Antichrist be born replenished with the spirit of Satan Which Fox will needs have to be meant by the foresaid Bonifacius VIII as tho' He above others had overthrown the Church and had been the first Antichrist among Popes Which if it were true then can it not fall either upon Gregory VII or Innocentius III. no nor upon Boniface himself named by him for that he was not made Pope 34 years after this devised Prophesie did appoint Antichrist to be born to wit 1260 seeing he was made Pope as Fox also confesseth Anno 1294. 5. But the best pastime is to hear what immediately followeth in Fox which are these words These Verses saith he were written as appeareth by the said Author Anno Domini 1285. Well Sir John and what of this doth not this overthrow all the credit of your Prophesie seeing it sheweth that these Verses were written 25 years after the day appointed by the Prophesie was past 6. So we see that this man having toiled so much to draw all that is spoken in the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation concerning Antichrist and the binding and loosing of Sathan to fall upon the Popes and Roman Church he cannot tell where to lay it but playeth notoriously the Fool and is contrary to himself as by the examination of the three places alleged may appear For in the first he affirmeth Christian Faith to have been extinguished either by Pope Gregory VII in the year of Christ 1080 or by Innocentius III. in the year 1215 and here he will have it to have been under Bonifacius VIII which was almost another hundred years after Innocentius 7. In the second place he will have the loosing of Sathan and consequently also the Fall of the Church to have been almost 200 years before Gregory VII that is to say in the year of Christ 900 and all the rest downward to have been under Antichrist which he calleth the time of Desolation and Reign of Sathan over the Church And he confirmeth the same again in the beginning of another Treatise following where repeating the division of his whole Work he saith That his intention is first to declare the suffering time of the Church for 300 years secondly the flourishing time for other 300 thirdly the declining time for other 300 years fourthly the time of Antichrist reigning and raging since the loosing of Sathan for other 400 years fifthly the reforming time of Christ's Church in these latter 300 since John Wickliff begun and after Luther and other like people Thus saith Fox wherein he agreeth somewhat as you see with his last former Account that Sathan was let loose to overthrow the Church about the year of Christ 900 which yet is quite contrary to that which he writeth in his first place before alledged that the foresaid Church was overthrown by Pope Gregory VII and Innocentius III. some hundreds of years after that time But much more contrary it is to that which he writeth lastly out of the Apocalypse in his fourth place alleged to wit That Sathan was bound up for a thousand years which number of years after the first Ten Persecutions he saith must begin from the year of Christ 294 which he endeavoreth tho' fondly to prove out of the 13th Chapter of the Apocalypse where it is said That Power was given by the Dragon to the Beast to wit to Antichrist to speak Blasphemy and to do what listed him for Forty two months which make as all men know three years and a half which is the time allotted by St. John according to all ancient Fathers Interpretations to the Reign of Antichrist in the end of the World. And it is so expounded in other places of this Revelation it self to wit by these words a time times and half a time and in another place by 1260 days and then again by 42 months All which numbers being examined do make up just the foresaid three years and a half prophesied and expressed in like manner by Daniel the Prophet 9. And in this there is no doubt or question among Catholics or ancient Writers but that Antichrist a particular person designed for that end from the beginning of the World shall appear and have power given him from the Devil to turmoil and afflict the Church of Christ for the space of three years and a half before the day of Judgment Only the Heretics of our time
Church which was gathered together of all Nations from the beginning is not now it hath perished or fallen from Christ thus say they which are not in her O impudent Speech Is she no longer a Church for that thou art not in her 24. Here I trow Fox will be ashamed or his Fellows for him seeing this is their ordinary speech That this great visible Church began by Christ and his Apostles held on well for a time but at length fell to Apostacy as St. Augustin saith of his Heretics in the same place Dicunt impletae sunt Scripturae crediderunt omnes gentes sed apostatavit periit Ecclesia These Heretics say that the Scriptures were fulfilled that all Nations believed and entred into this Church but that after a time it fell to Apostacy and perished But what answereth St. Augustin to this impudent Objection He opposeth the words of Christ himself Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem saeculi Behold I am with you to the end of the World. As who would say By this Doctrin they make Christ a Lyar and a Deceiver that promised more than he could perform nay in very deed they deny hereby his whole Deity and do evacuate all the Mysteries of his whole Incarnation Life Passion Resurrection Ascension and sending of the Holy Ghost c. 25. For to what end was all this done but to gather together found establish and to conserve this Church unto the end of the World For what was Christ incarnate and God made Man but to be Head of this Church Why did he preach gather his Apostles and Disciples instruct them pray for them and their continuance leave Sacraments among them but that they should visibly begin this Church Why did Christ send the Holy Ghost but to direct and confirm the same not for one Age or Two but to the Worlds end How did Christ command men under pain of Damnation to enter into this Church and absolutely to hear and obey the same if it were only to endure for certain Ages and then to perish How should Pagans Infidels Jews Turks Moors or other like people if by God's Inspiration they should have a desire to be Christians know what to do or whither to go or where to be truly instructed if they came after the time appointed by Fox when the visible Roman Church had perished to wit after the time of Pope Gregory VII when Fox saith That Christian Faith was now extinguished in the Vniversal visible Church above 500 years agone And yet on the other side this new Church of Wickliffians Hussites and others of that Sect which he putteth to be the true Church was not yet born by two or three hundred years So as then he must needs confess that either there was no Christian Church at all for some Ages or that he must place it in some other obscure Heretics and Sectaries of that time named by me before yet he doth not agree at all in their Articles of Religion 26. Well then this shall be sufficient to shew the absurdity of John Fox his device for overthrow of our Church and setting up of his own patching it up of the Heretics of these latter Ages And yet you must note that for the first three hundred years next after the Conquest to this time of the rising of Wickliff which contain the whole substance of his fourth Book and therein a hundred Leaves of Paper he scarce findeth any Heretics whom he dareth to challenge for Members of his Church fully tho' some liking he sheweth to the foresaid Waldenses and Albigenses So as all the substantial building of his Church beginneth only from Wickliff downward of whom we shall talk more particularly in the Chapter following 27. But perhaps then you will ask me How doth he fill up these hundred Leaves of Paper in this his fourth Book if here also he allege so little for his visible Church I shall tell you briefly He goeth from King to King and from Archbishop to Archbishop shewing what strifes or disagreements suits or controversies fell out between our two Archbishops of Canterbury and York between our Kings Archbishops Religious Orders and Secular Priests Canons and their Bishops and other such quarrels in those times making scornful Notes upon every Point and then he putteth down a Bead-roll of all the particular Orders of Religious Men in England entituling the same The Rabblement of Religious Orders Then cometh he in with a complaint of the Nobles of England against the Exactions and Covetousness of Popes in those days and many Letters and Writings about the same but citeth commonly no Author for any thing Then bringeth he in what variance at divers times there passed between the Popes and the Citizens of Rome what strifes between some Popes and Emperours betwixt Kings of France and Kings of England and such like other matter little to the purpose he took in hand which was to set down the race and course of his Church 28. But the greatest part of this Book doth take up the particular Lying Treatise against Pope Gregory VII against Lanfrank Anselm and Thomas Becket Archbishops of Canterbury the counterfeit devised poysoning of King John by a Monk or Friar the Story or Persecution as he calleth it of the Heretics named Waldenses or poor Men of Lyons and Albigenses of Tholosa and the like We shall say a word or two to each Point 29. As for Pope Gregory called before Hildebrand he so raileth upon him as if he had been the wickedest man that ever lived and the Emperour the best and yet have you heard the grave testimonies before of the principal ancient Authors to the contrary in them both But do you hear Fox himself speak Now let us proceed saith he to the contentions between wicked Hildebrand and the godly Emperour c. Lo how he sanctifieth the Emperour for hatred to the Pope 30. Of Archbishop Lanfrank so highly commended by all Writers for his Vertue and rare Learning whereby he confuted most excellently the new risen Heresie of Berengarius Fox writeth thus I think that unless Lanfrank had brought with him less Superstition and more sincere Science into Christ's Church he might have kept him still is his Country and have confuted Berengarius at home Do you see how wise a confutation this is 31. St. Anselm followed after Lanfrank in the Archbishopric of Canterbury and was banished by William Rufus and died upon the 22 of April in the year 1109 and is held for a Saint by all Posterity and his said day kept Festival throughout Christendom And yet so writeth Fox his Story as tho' King Rufus whose manners yet all English Historiographers both Heretics and Catholics do greatly blame had had the right and Anselmus had offered the wrong insomuch as in one place Fox maketh this Marginal Note against this holy Man The proud stoutness of a Prelate in a
wrong Cause 32. How large a Treatise Fox maketh of St. Thomas Becket and his contention with King Henry II. and how shamefully he doth bely and revile him every-where hath been shewed sufficiently before in my Answer to Sir Francis Hastings as also of the Fable of the poysoning of K. John. And as for the Histories the Waldenses Albigenses whom he meaneth to lay for the first Foundations of his visible Church upon Earth he handleth matters so falsly and partially contrary to the testimony of all Antiquity as a man may easily see that the whole contexture of his Story is nothing else but a perpetual woven thread of wilful and malicious Falshoods and for that I shall have occasion to speak again of these Heretics in the next Chapter wherein we have to handle the Succession of John Fox his visible Protestant Church from Wickliff downward I shall say no more thereof here but remit me to that which ensueth CHAP. IX Of the time from John Wickliff unto the beginning of the Reign of King Henry VIII containing about 140 years And how the Roman Church and John Fox his Church passed in these days BY that which hath been said before from Age to Age of the apparent and manifest Descent Progress and Continuation of the Catholic Roman Church and of her State and Condition as well in England as in other parts of the Christian World at the rising of John Wickliff an English-man about the year of Christ 1371 it is not hard to make the like deduction of the same Church from that time unto the year of Christ 1560 when her Majesty that now is had a little before begun her Reign and established the form of Religion that now is held in England For as for the Popes and chief Ecclesiastical Governors of the Roman Church in this time they are publicly known their Names Number and Succession one to another from Innocentius VI. Vrbanus V. and Gregory XI who first condemned Wickliff's Doctrin unto Pope Pius V. that entred the Roman See at the beginning of her Majesties Reign being in number about Thirty and all of one Faith and Religion the one with the other 2. The Emperours also both of the West and East Empire so long as it lasted are known to have been of the self-same Religion excepting some Disobedience and Schismatical Opinions in some of the Greek Emperours against the Church of Rome for which it may be thought that God of his Justice gave them over at length together with their Empire into Infidels hands about the year of Christ 1450 Constantinus the Twelfth of that Name sirnamed Paleologus being the last of that Race 3. The manner also of proceeding in Ecclesiastical matters by this Church in this time was like unto the former to wit by conserving and continuing the Faith of their Ancestors and precedent times defending the same with like diligence against Innovations of Heretics partly by the Writings of Catholic Learned Men Doctors and Preachers which in these Ages were as Gregorius Ariminensis Laurentius Justinianus Thomas de Kempis Bartholomeus Vrbinas Thomas Waldensis Joannes Gerson Alphonsus Tostatus Sanctus Vincentius Sanctus Antoninus Sanctus Bernardinus Senensis Nicolaus Cusanus Jo. Tritemius Jo. Naucleras Albertus Pius Eckius Empserus Clicthoveus and many other Learned Catholic Writers By whose diligence the Heretics in these Ages were every-where refuted But especially were they repressed by the Authority of Synods and Councils as well Provincial and National as General also to which effect were their latter General Councils the first of Florence under Pope Eugenius IV. against the Heretics and Schismatics of those times about the year of Christ 1432 the second of Lateran under Julius II. and Leo X. about the year of Christ 1513 and the third of Trent against Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists Anabaptists and other such fresher Heretics of our days under Pope Paulus IV. Pius IV. and Pius V. which Council was begun about the year 1445. 4. And albeit in this time as in former Ages there wanted not troublesom Spirits and new-fangling Heads to impugn and exercise this Church as the Wickliffians Hussites Pickards Adamites Thaborites Orebites and other such Sectaries going before Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists Anabaptists Trinitarians and other like new Dogmatists of our days yet were they always discovered resisted vanquished and condemned by the same ordinary Process of Ecclesiastical Censures and Judgment excommunicated anathematiz'd and delivered over to Sathan by the Authority of this Church as all other Heretics were in former Ages and consequently are like to have the self-same final end howsoever they ruffle or resist for a time 5. And this being now the demonstration of our Catholic Church most clear and evident to all them that have Eyes of Understanding to see and Grace to consider the Truth let us pass over to the view of John Fox's Church which having been hitherto invisible from Christ downward and only imaginary or Mathematical as you have seen for that he hath scarce named any to have been of that Church yet now from this time forward he will begin to exhibit unto us a real visible Church on his part that is to say a Succession or rather Representation of divers Professors of his Religion or of some Points thereof at leastwise wherein they differ from the Roman For he doth not think it needful for those of his Church to agree in all Articles nor doth he bind himself to the Rule of St. Augustin Ecclesia universaliter perfecta est in nullo claudicat The true Church is universally perfect and doth halt in no one point of Belief But he thinketh it sufficient for his men to agree in some things against the Roman Church and to have some sparkles of Truth in it as before he affirmed albeit therewithal they should have some blemishes and errors also as a little after we will declare 6. The Catalogue of these Protestant Professors whereof Fox would make up his Church we shall handle in the Chapter following Now we are only to tell you that from this time of Wickliff downwards he meaneth to lay down the visible Succession of his Church and to that effect he storeth up all those that held the Articles of the foresaid Wickliff or Husse for Gospellers of his Church whatsoever they held otherwise against him or different among themselves And if any of them or others were punished for their Opinions by our Church then doth he register them for Martyrs or Confessors of the same Church which yet he never durst do before this time albeit there were divers other Sectaries in former Ages that symboliz'd with him in divers Articles as hath been shewed 7. Yea in this matter we may see John Fox also play the Fox and fetch many windings and turnings to deceive his Reader for that at the very entrance of his prolix and tedious Treatise of John Wickliff whom he proposeth as a chosen man raised
the Records of the Chancery as the Act of Parliament it self whereby they were condemned of open Treason and confessed Rebellion for which sixty nine were condemned in one day by public Sentence and yet doth the mad fellow take upon him to excuse and defend them all by a long Discourse of many Leaves together scoffing and jesting as well at their Arraignment and Sentence given as also at the Act of Parliament holden at Leicester Anno 2 Hen. 5. cap. 7. and in the year of Christ 1415. And after all he setteth forth in contempt of this public Judgment a great painted Pageant or Picture of those that were hanged for that open Fact of Rebellion in St. Giles's Field in London as of true Saints and Martyrs namely of Sir Roger Acton and others pag. 540. And some Leaves after that again he setteth out another particular Pageant of the several Execution of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The description of the cruel Martyrdom of Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham And more than this he appointeth unto them their several Festival Days in red Letters which were the days of their Hanging as unto solemn Martyrs The first upon the sixth of January with this Title Sir Roger Acton Knight Martyr And the other upon the fifth of February with this Inscription in his Calendar Sir John Oldcastle Lord Cobham Martyr Whereby we may see that these men do not measure things as they are in themselves but as they serve to maintain their Faction 15. And it is further to be noted That albeit these two Rebellious Knights Acton and Oldcastle besides all other their convicted Crimes did make public Profession of a far different Faith from John Fox as may be seen by the Confessions and Protestations set down by Fox himself yea and the latter of them also did openly recant all the Errors and Heresies that he had held before yet notwithstanding will not Fox so let them go but perforce will have them to be of his Church whether they will or no. It would be over long to rehearse many Examples some few shall you have for a tast 16. Page 512. Fox setteth down the Protestation of Sir John Oldcastle with this Title The Christian Belief of the Lord Cobham By which Title you may see that he liketh well of his Belief and holdeth it for truly Christian Well mark what followeth When after other Articles about the blessed Trinity and Christ's Deity Sir John Oldcastle cometh to treat of the Sacrament of the Altar he protesteth thus And forasmuch as I am falsly accused of a misbelief in the Sacrament of the Altar I signifie here to all men that this is my Faith concerning that I believe in that Sacrament to be contained very Christ's Body and Blood under the similitudes of Wine and Bread yea the same Body that was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary hung on the Cross died and was buried arose the third day from the dead and now is glorified in Heaven This was his Confession and is related here by Fox And will Fox agree to this think you It may be he will for that he saith nothing against it at all in this place 17. But some Leaves after repeating another Testimonial of the said Oldcastle's Belief witnessed by his own Friends concerning this Article he writeth thus Furthermore He believeth that the blessed Sacrament of the Altar is verily and truly Christ's Body in form of Bread. Upon which words Fox maketh this Commentary in the Margin In form of Bread but not without Bread he meaneth Yea John is that his meaning How then standeth this with his former words Vnder the similitudes of Bread and Wine Is the Similitude of Bread true Bread Who seeth not this silly shift of a poor baited Fox that cannot tell whither to turn his head But mark yet a far worse shift 18. Sir John Oldcastle shewing his Belief about three sorts of Men the one of Saints now in Heaven the second in Purgatory the third here Militant upon Earth saith thus The holy Church I believe to be divided into three sorts or companies whereof the first are now in Heaven c. the second sort are in Purgatory abiding the Mercy of God and a full deliverance of pain the third upon Earth c. To this speech of Purgatory Fox thought best left it might disgrace his new Martyr to add this Parenthesis of his own if any such place be in the Scriptures c And by this you may perceive how he proceedeth in all the rest to wit most perfidiously like a Fox in all 19. Furthermore he setteth down at length a very ample and earnest Recantation of the said Sir John Oldcastle taken out of the Records as authentically made as can be devised Wherein he thus protested In Nomine Dei Amen I John Oldcastle denounced detected and convicted of and upon divers Articles savouring Heresie and Error c. I being evil seduced by divers Seditious Preachers have grievously erred heretically persisted blasphemously answered and obstinately rebelled c. And having recounted at length all his former condemned and heretical Opinions he endeth thus Over and besides all this I John Oldcastle utterly forsaking and renouncing all the aforesaid Errors and Heresies and all other like unto them lay my hand here upon this Book and Evangel of God and swear That I shall never more from henceforth hold these aforesaid Heresies nor yet any other like unto them wittingly c. All which Recantation and Abjuration being related at large by John Fox he saith nothing at all against it but only that it was devised by the Bishops without his consent alleging no one Author Witness Writing Record Reason or probable Conjecture for proof thereof but followeth the fond shift before touched by me against the Magdâ—burgenses of him that being accused of heinous Crimes bringeth in first the best Witnesses of all the City to prove the same against himself and then answereth all with only saying that they are Lyars and know not what they say In which kind I cannot omit to allege an Example or two more for your better satisfaction in this behalf 20. This Fox in his Protestation to the Church of England wherein he pretendeth to put the very sum of all his whole Volume being desirous to prove the Antiquity of this his visible Church not only by these Witnesses the Wickliffians Hussites Lollards and other Sectaries of that time above 200 years agone but also by the testimonies of divers Statutes and Acts of Parliaments made against them in England at the same time he citeth sundry Statutes and Acts of Parliament for that purpose and presently discrediteth the same again telling you That you must not believe Them but rather Him and His Words against them all You shall hear him in his own words 21. Let any man saith he peruse the Acts and Statutes of Parliaments passed in this
in those days should revive and preach again in these days would his Brethren the Protestants in England or out of England receive them think you And if it be certain that they would not how were they true Preachers then and not now or how can these and they be true Brethren of one Faith Religion or Church Doth not every simple Man or Woman see this Folly and absurd Contradiction 29. But to return to the matter in hand about rejecting Parliaments and other public Testimonies we see that John Fox with the same facility both reciteth and rejecteth the Letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury written to the Pope about those Wickliffians of his time twenty years after the former Parliament was held but yet in conformity of that which the said Parliament under King Henry IV. and the other before under King Richard II. did testifie as well of the said Sectaries Hypocrisie and Dissimulation as of their wicked Errors and Heresies All which Fox contemning saith to the contrary That they served faithfully the living Lord within the Ark of his true spiritual and visible Church c. 30. And it is to be noted that scarce ever throughout this whole Volume of Acts and Monuments from Christ downward for the space of 1400 years doth Fox talk of any visible Church on his side but only now when he cometh to these Wickliffians and other like Sectaries And yet to speak warily also he adjoyneth unto it the word spiritual to have some starting-hole to run out when he shall be pressed about the true nature of visible Succession which we mean to do in the next Chapter following But in the mean space it is a matter worth good laughter to hear him say That Papists do brag of their painted Sheath concerning their Churches Antiquity and Succession and that he hath sufficiently proved before by the continual descent of his Church after the Doctrin that now is reformed that it hath stood and been continued from the beginning for so are his words yea and that visibly as now he addeth Whereat I know no man can choose but laugh that hath read this our Treatise wherein we have shewed all the contrary to wit the visible Descent of the Roman Church by orderly Succession from the Apostles time and that John Fox hath not so much as named any different Succession or Descent of his Church distinct from the other until the time of Innocentius III. 1200 years after Christ And what manner of deduction or collection of Heretics and Sectaries he bringeth down from thence and how well they agree and hang together either in Time Place Function or Faith we shall examin a little after 31. But now before we end this Chapter we are to advertise the Reader that besides the Sects before named of the Petrobusians Henricians Waldensians or poor men of Lyons the Albigensians and Wickliffians there was another Sect in England called Lollards more famous than the rest in respect of Lollards Tower some what renowned in London for the Imprisonments of those Sectaries in that place But when and how this Sect of Heretics began is not so clear for that some as Prateolus and others seem to affirm that it took its Origin in England as a Brood of the Wickliffists for that they were more famous there than in other places And therefore he saith Lollardi ex Anglia ex Wickliffistarum Secta originem duxerunt The Lollards had their beginning from England and from the Sect of the Wickliffians And he addeth That it was about the year 1360 which cannot stand for that we have shewed before how Wickliff began to publish his Doctrin after this to wit about the year 1370. Wherefore the Abbot Tritemius a German Chronicler declareth the matter more particularly and truly saying That there was a certain Heretic in Germany called Gualter Lolhard who about the year of Christ 1315 taking certain Doctrin from the Albigenses and Waldenses that went before him and adding as the fashion is of Sectaries divers new Opinions of his own made a particular Sect who were called Lolhards Whereby it appeareth that this Sect began in Germany above fifty years before the Sect of Wickliff in England and hereby ensued that Wickliffians taking afterwards divers Opinions from the said Lolhards were commonly also called Lolhards And John Fox himself reciting the Sentence of Condemnation of Bishop Tresnant of Hereford against one William Swynderby an Apostata Priest for Wickliffian Heresies in the year of Christ 1391 the 24th of June he setteth down these words of the said Bishop We being excited through the Information of many credible and faithful Christians of our Diocese to root out pestiferous Plants as Sheep diseased with an incurable Sickness going about to infect the whole and sound Flock that is to say certain Preachers or more truly execrable Offenders of the new Sect vulgarly called Lolhards c. 32. Lo here Wickliffians at this time for such a one was this Swynderby were commonly called Lolhards twenty years and more after Wickliff had begun his Doctrin So as rather Wickliffians are to be said to have come forth of Lolhards than Lolhards of Wickliffians 33. And albeit these two Sects beginning as you have heard the one in Germany and the other in England with the distance of some fifty years of their Off-spring had many Opinions common to them both especially against the Roman Church against Invocation of Saints Fastings Prayers and the Sacraments of Penance Matrimony Extreme Unction and the like yet had they their peculiar Opinions also whereby they were made a several Sect. As for Example the Lolhards impugned not only the foresaid three Sacraments of Penance Matrimony and Extreme Unction as some Wickliffians did but Baptism and the Eucharist in like manner They held also for their peculiar Opinions as Tritemius saith That Lucifer and his Angels were injuriously thrust out of Heaven by Michael and his Angels and consequently to be restored again at the Day of Judgment and that Michael and his Angels are to be damned for the foresaid Injury and to be delivered over to everlasting Punishment from the Day of Judgment forward That our Lady could not bear Christ and remain a Virgin for that so he should have been an Angel and not a Man. That God having given the Earth to the use of Man according to the saying of the Psalm Terram autem dedit filiis hominum God hath given the Earth to the children of men he doth consequently punish such Wickedness as is done upon Earth but if any thing be done under ground it is not punishable And therefore in Caves and Cellars under ground they were accustomed to exercise all manner of Abomination And of this he relateth a certain Story happened in Germany which was That one Gisla a young woman of their Sect coming to be burned for Heresie she was asked whether she were a Virgin or no whereunto
Tythes and if any man will needs give he may give to whom he will excluding thereby their Curates Another Article also was of the said Brute That a Priest receiving by bargain any thing of Yearly Annuity is thereby a Schismatic and Excommunicate Which if it be true then are his Ministers in a hard case at this day in England who do bargain for their Service and Wages due thereunto 40. And so goeth Fox on from Point to Point to ratifie John Wickliff's Doctrin or at least the Professors thereof not considering simple Fellow how much they differ from him or make against him so they be contrary to the Pope of Rome or condemned by him For further proof of which Folly and blind Ignorance we shall pass now to treat in a several Chapter what manner of Continuance and Succession of his Church he deviseth thro'out the Rabble of these opposite Sects from the time of Pope Innocentius III. to the Reign of King Henry VIII whereby I doubt not but the Reader will remain sufficiently instructed of these Mens madness that of so contrary and repugnant Spirits will needs frame to themselves the Unity of a true Christian Church CHAP. X. The most absurd and ridiculous Succession of Sectaries appointed by John Fox for the Continuance of his Church from Pope Innocentius III. downward where also by this occasion is declared the true Nature and Conditions of lawful Ecclesiastical Succession HAving now followed John Fox throughout all this Treatise from Christ's time to ours to see what visible course and race he would set down as well of His Church as Ours according to his promise made in the beginning of his Acts and Monuments we have found him hitherto to have talked only in a manner of Our Church that is to say of the Universal Roman Church perspicuously come down by succession of Years and Ages from the Apostles to Us neither did John Fox for twelve hundred years together so much as name unto us any other Congregation of Men or Women small or great good or bad that in this time bare the Name of a Christian Church besides the other nor did he pretend any Succession fearing perhaps those words of Tertullian before recited Confingant tale aliquid Haeretici c. Let Heretics presume to feign or devise any such Succession of Bishops Teachers and Pastors for Their Church as we have alleged for Ours if they dare 2. But now from Pope Innocentius's time downwards John Fox presuming that all the other Church was fallen from God a great presumption indeed as before hath been shewed he bringeth us forth in place thereof another Company of Men which he saith in those days made the true Church for that they were condemned by the other Church which he holdeth for the false And these were a certain Rabblement of Sectaries different in Opinions and Professions not only from Us but also from John Fox and his Crew and most of all among themselves being of divers Countries Sects Times Ages Offices and Functions and cohering together in no other form at all of Succession but that one rose or sprung up after the other For which cause Fox himself in his Acts and Monuments doth not handle their Affairs as of any Congregation that ever met together or saw perhaps one another or had Conference Order Subordination or Succession among themselves but only tieth them together in a certain List or Catalogue as Sampson's Foxes were by the Tails Which List or Catalogue he setteth down in his foresaid Protestation to the Church of England telling us first That during the time of the last 400 years from Pope Innocentius downwards the true Church of Christ durst not openly appear in the face of the World being oppressed by Tyranny but yet that it remained from time to time visibly in certain chosen Members that not only bare secret good affection to sincere Doctrin but stood also in the defence of Truth against the Church of Rome 3. This is his Assertion which he proveth by a large List or Catalogue as I have said of sundry that were in this time censured and condemned in some part of Doctrin by the said Roman Church In which Catalogue saith he first to pretermit Bertramus and Berengarius which were before Pope Innocentius III. a Learned multitude of sufficient Witnesses here might be produced whose Names neither are obscure nor Doctrin unknown as Joachim Abbot of Calabria Almaricus a Learned Bishop that was judged an Heretic for holding against Images besides the Martyrs of Alsatia of whom we read an hundred to be burned by Pope Innocentius in one day Add likewise saith he to these the Waldenses and Albigenses Marsilius Patavinus Gulielmus de Sancto Amore Symon Tornacensis Arnoldus de nova Villa Joannes Semica besides divers others Preachers in Suevia standing against the Pope Anno 1240 c. 4. Thus beginneth Fox his Catalogue and then goeth he forward with Joannes Anglicus a Master of Paris Petrus Joannis a Minorite burned after his death Robert Grossehead Bishop of Lincoln called Malleus Romanorum c. And further he addeth Joannes de Ganduno Eudo Duke of Burgundy that counselled the French King to receive the Popes Extravagants Dante 's an Italian Poet that wrote against Popes Monks and Friars together with Petrarcha and them Conradus Hagaz imprisoned for preaching against the Mass Anno 1339 c. And to these again he coupleth Franciscus de Arcaterra and others burned for new Opinions Gregorius Ariminensis Armachanus Occham and others as tho' these had been all of the same Opinions And finally he falleth upon the Lollards Wickliffians Hussites and their Followers in England and Bohemia succeeding one after another now in this Country now in that now upon one occasion and now upon another until the Reign of King Henry III. when Martin Luther began his Profession who did agree and symbolize in divers Points with the said former Sects of Waldenses and Albigenses Lollards Wickliffians and Hussites and differed in others as before hath been declared And after the Lutherans did follow again others partly agreeing and partly disagreeing as Zuinglius Calvinus Beza Oecolampadius and others unto our days and every one affirming his Opinions to be the New Gospel 5. And this is the visible Succession forsooth which John Fox hath devised to set down for the proof of his new Church and the Antiquity thereof for 400 years past And it is like as if a man in England to disgrace the City of London should seek out the Records of all those that have been hanged at Tyburn for Theft or Murthers for 400 years and having found them out should produce them for Witnesses of the truth and for honest men and good Citizens condemning both the Judges and Jurors and whole Country that gave Sentence and Verdict against them And yet if you will see how John Fox playeth the Fool indeed and braggeth of this Succession
That the chief Heads thereof must be Bishops Secondly They must succeed orderly one to another Thirdly They must come down from the very Apostles as before hath been shewed Fourthly Christian Nations must agree in the same Faith under them All which four Points are to be found in the Succession of the Universal Roman Church as you have seen but no one of them and much less all are to be found in this Rabble of Heresies and Sectaries scrap'd together by Fox in his former Catalogue For neither were they Bishops at all but private men as after shall be shewed tho' Fox most falsly doth affirm one of them to have been a Learned Bishop Nor did they succeed in Office Function Charge or Jurisdiction the one to the other or concurred in one Time Country or place but one in one corner and another in another One stept up in Germany another in France another in Italy and another in England the one a Priest another a Friar another a Merchant and the other a Souldier or Crafts-man of different States Professions and Conditions yea of different Faith and Religion also as presently shall be shewed Neither had they any relation one to the other more than Botley to Billingsgate or Canterbury to Constantinople And as for Antiquity and coming down by Succession from the Apostles they are far from it as Fox himself confesseth in that he beginneth his Catalogue only from Pope Innocentius 1200 years after Christ as you have heard So as if Christ had any visible Church before this time it must needs be Ours by Fox's own confession 14. And finally the last Point mentioned here and so highly esteemed by St. Augustin of the consent of People and Nations tot populorum consensione firmatur whereof he maketh such account in another place as he saith Anathema erit quisquis annunciaverit Ecclesiam praeter Communicationem omnium gentium He shall be accursed whosoever shall say the Church to be any other but the Communication of all Nations This quality I say he that shall consider and examin in these poor Fellows alleged by Fox who were but a few Outcasts of every Country where they sprung shall find it so ridiculous and contemptible a thing in respect of the main consent of Nations under the Roman Church as without laughter it cannot be spoken of 15. Finally of this ridiculous Succession of Heretics the same holy Father writeth fitly in these words Videtis certè multos praecisos à radice Christianae Societatis quae per Sedes Apostolorum Successiones Episcoporum certa per Orbem propagatione diffunditur de sola figura Originis sub Christiano nomine quasi arescentia sarmenta gloriari quas Haereses Schismata nominamus Truly you see many cut off from the root of this Christian Society the Church which Society is spread over all the World by the Seats of the Apostles and Succession of Bishops as it were by a most certain Propagation or Generation and these Fellows do brag of a certain figure or similitude of a Beginning or Succession under the name of Christians but are indeed wither'd Branches cut off from the Vine and these we call Heretics and Schismatics Thus saith St. Augustin And could any man describe better the Apish Imitation of John Fox endeavouring to bring in his Succession of a few condemned Heretics de sola figura Originis sub Christiano nomine gloriantes bragging only of a certain similitude of Beginning and Succession under the name of reformed Christians but indeed cast out and condemned by the Universal Church 16. This then is the second Point to be noted about the quality of Ecclesiastical Succession But another there is of no less moment but rather more And this is That those who succeed one another in the self-same Church be also of one Faith and Belief in all Articles of Religion For if they differ tho' it were but in any one substantial Point they cannot be of one Church nor of one Communion nor be saved together for that as there is but one God one Christ one Church and one Baptism as the Apostle testifieth so is there but one only Faith in the same Church to be saved by which all men must hold unitedly wholly and inviolably or else as in the Creed of St. Athanasius is affirmed absque dubio in aeternum peribit without doubt he shall perish eternally that disagreeth or dissenteth 17. It were a long matter to stand here upon the proof of this Point to wit how exact and severe the Catholic Church is and ever hath been in defending this strict Simplicity Union and Conformity of Faith in all those that will be her Children St. Thomas handleth the matter at large and very substantially and so do other School-men after him shewing That whosoever erreth in any one Article of Catholic Faith obstinately loseth his whole Faith in all the rest which he seemeth to believe And yieldeth most evident reasons for the same And of the same severity were the ancient Fathers in this behalf as St. Cyprian who applying to this purpose those words of Christ Qui non est mecum adversum me est He that is not with me is against me saith It was meant by Christ of all sorts of Heretics whatsoever Gregory Nazianzen also writeth Qui uno verbo tanquam veneni gutta inficiunt c. They who by any one word as with a drop of Poyson do infect the simple Faith of Christ are to be cast out of the Church as Heretics c. And St. Hierom Propter unum etiam verbum aut duo c. For one word or two contrary to the Catholic Faith many Heresies have been cast out of the Church And finally St. Augustin having reckon'd up Eighty particular Heresies in his Book to Quod-vult-deus he saith That there may chance to lurk many other petty Heresies unknown to him Quarum aliquam quisquis tenuerit Christianus Catholicus non erit Of which Heresies whosoever shall hold any one he shall not be a Catholic Christian and consequently cannot be saved 18. Mark the severity of this holy Man affirming That whosoever holdeth any the least hidden Heresie whatsoever cannot be saved A dreadful Sentence no doubt for many of our Country-men at this day if well they thought of their own case who think it lawful or at leastwise not much dangerous to hold private Opinions at their own pleasure yea many of them thinking as the old Donatists did which St. Augustin relateth and greatly condemneth Nihil interesse credentes in qua quisque parte Christianus sit believing that it is not of great importance in what part Sect or Faction soever a man be a Christian so he believe in Christ Thus thought the Donatists and are much reprehended by St. Augustin for it And this no doubt is the Opinion of many English-men at this day who being tossed hither and thither with
though he died quietly in his Bed as after shall be shewed And that of Luther upon the 17. of Feb. with the title only of Confessor but both of them in red Letters Notwithstanding that the Authors of these three Sects do disclaim one from another as in the former Chapter you have heard So as this forcible drawing of opposite Sectaries into one Catalogue and Calendar of Saints is like to that of Cacus who drew Bulls backwards by the tails into his Cave And this shall suffice for the contemplation of this strange composition and combination of Fox his Church from Wickliffs time down to K. Henry VIII of whose Reign and matters contained therein we shall now successively begin our speech CHAP. XI The Search of John Fox's Church is continued under the Government and Reign of K. Henry VIII and his Children And it is discussed what manner of Church John Fox then had or may be imagined to have had HAving made our former search or pursuit for the finding of Jon Fox his Church throughout the precedent years and Ages of the Christian world from the Apostles time unto the Reign of King Henry VIII and declared most evidently as to us it seemeth that the said Church was never yet to be found in any of those times and Ages except perhaps in some such broken and contemptible Heretics and so opposite and contrary one of them to another as cannot possibly be thought to make a Church that requireth unity and conformity of Faith there remaineth now that we proceed to examin what may be found for John Fox's purpose under the Reign of K. Henry VIII downwards to our time For that as often hath been noted of this time doth John Fox brag and glory in his Book as of the florishing time of his Gospel Which appeareth not only by that he imployeth the half of his whole Volume in these only thirty years that passed between the breach of King Henry with the Pope unto the entrance of Queen Elizabeth but also by a brave triumphant picture set in the first page of King Henry's Reign with his Feet upon the back of Pope Clement VII and other circumstances of Heretical insolence which presently we shall declare 2. But first of all you must understand that in the 12 last pages of K. Henry VII.'s Life it pleased John Fox to set down pleasantly 12 large printed and painted Pageants of the Popes greatness in those days together with his Papal Cases reserved to himself his Dominion both Spiritual Temporal his great Riches the universal Obedience both of Temporal and Spiritual Princes unto him and other such like points All which being but a melancholy meditation and Spectacle for Protestants John Fox in the next page setteth down a merrier contemplation to wit King Henry VIII placed by him in a high Throne with Clement VII under his Feet grovelling on the ground with his Cross Keys and Triple Crown in the Dust Whereat many Friars are painted staring and gazing and weeping round about and B. Fisher and Sir Thomas Moor pitifully also weeping and stooping down to help him up again And on the other side K. Henry is painted with the Gospel in his Lap and his Sword in his right hand lifted up for defence thereof Which Gospel is also holpen to be held up by Cranmer and Cromwell that on his said right hand do assist the King with great contentment of the new Ministers Who are painted here to stand very gravely contemplating of the matter with a singular comfort and all other Bishops Abbots Ecclesiastical and Temporal men bewailing and mourning 3. And this is John Fox his pleasant or rather peevish invention to entertain the eyes of the simple Readers or lookers on and to make pastime for Fools whereof himself was a solemn Father while he lived And I would ask the silly Fellow here how King Henry tho' he brake with Pope Clement upon some matters of displeasure as is notorious and refused to yield him Spiritual obedience in England as he and his Ancestors had done ever before yet how could he justly or truly be said to have cast him down with his Crown and Cross as herein painted Seeing that Pope Clement his Authority power and Spiritual jurisdiction throughout the Christian World was no less after King Henry's breach than before And albeit the Realm of England withdrew Her Spiritual obedience from him yet the encrease of new Churches in the Indies was of much more Authority and jurisdiction unto him and his Successors in that kind than he or they lost in England Germany or other parts that retired themselves from his and their obedience 4. Further I would ask this John Deviser that devised this wise representation how could K. Henry's Sword be said to be in Defence of the Protestants Gospel when by their own Affirmation he was the greatest persecutor of their Brethren that ever was King of England from the beginning of that Monarchy to his days For so sheweth Fox himself in that he in his Calendar of Saints setteth down more Martyrs of his Sect made by King Henry only than by all the other former Kings and Queens of England from the first entrance of Christian Faith to his time As we are to shew more largely in the Third part of this Treatise when we come to examin his said Calendar But yet in the mean space if you will have some tast how favourable K. Henry of his own inclination was to these new Gospellers you may read what Fox setteth down in the second part of his Acts and Monuments of this matter Where among other complaints of this Kings Reign you shall find in one place no less than fourteen whole pages of Names by way of Table or Catalogue of godly Men and Women as he calleth them apprehended persecuted and imprisoned for the Gospels sake by the Bishop of Lincoln in one year The King himself being the chief Author and Inciter to the Persecution as appeareth by a Letter of the said Kings written to the said Bishop of Lincoln upon the 20. of Octob. 1521. and the 13. year of his Reign which Letter Fox doth Register under this Title The Copy of the Kings Letter for the aid of John Longland Bishop of Lincoln against the Servants of Christ falsely then called Heretics c. 5. Lo here King Henry proved to be an Aider and Inciter of Persecution against Gospellers termed the Servants of God by Fox but Heretics by the King. And if so many of these good Fellows were persecuted by him in one Year under one Bishop only within one Diocese what may be imagined throughout the whole Realm Truly you may read in Fox himself very large and lamentable complaints of this King's Reign and divers copious Lists of these persecuted Saints of his Church set down by him especially from the foresaid year of Christ 1521 to 1531 which was the last ten years before the breach with the
that Heresie but that he had so much as secretly and inwardly favored the same And for this very cause did King Henry use that solemn and sharp Judgment upon Lambert and made Cranmer to dispute so earnestly against him for the Real Presence whereof afterward he made also the said Cranmer write and print a Book for more evident Attestation therein and to the same end he made Cromwell to pronounce the Sentence that all men might see and know but especially his Favorites that whomsoever he found faulty in that behalf should expect no favor at his hand Whereupon when he had spoken to Lambert asking him What he had to say more for himself why he should not die And the other falling down on his knees remitted himself to his Princely Mercy The King answered with a loud Voice in these words as Fox relateth them If you remit your self to my Judgment you must die for I will be no Patron of Heretics And by and by turning himself to Cromwell he said Cromwell read the Sentence of Condemnation against him which Cromwell addeth Fox was at that time the chief Friend of the Gospellers who taking the Schedule of Condemnation in his hand read the same c. 12. Thus writeth Fox and putteth in the Margin this Note The King condemneth the Martyr of Christ John Lambert And again in another place Thus was John Lambert in this bloody Session by the King judged and condemned to death c. And then speaketh he very dishonorably of King Henry about this matter citing him to the last Day of Judgment to receive his Sentence for that Sentence So as howsoever they flatter the Memory of this King for glosing with her Majesty in outward words yet it is clear enough what they think of him in their hearts and speak of him in corners And howsoever Fox paint him out with their Gospel in his Lap and Sword in his hand to defend it calling him every-where Gospeller yet can they not deny but that the sharpest edge of the Sword fell upon them 13. And here I cannot omit to let you hear Fox's complaint of ill luck and misfortune in this behalf that the King with Cranmer and Cromwell and some others of his Gospel and Gospellers should so unluckily concur to the condemning and burning of this fervent Brother of their Gospel Lambert Here saith Fox it is much to be marvelled at to see how unfortunately it came to pass in this mattter that through the pestiferous and crafty Counsel of Gardyner Bishop of Winchester Sathan did here perform the Condemnation of this Lambert by no other Ministers than Gospellers themselves This is Fox his complaint laying all the fault as you see upon Bishop Gardyner as tho' he had been able to have induced all these Gospellers and among others the King himself and his Gospelling Counsellors to have concurred to the burning of their own Brother Lambert if they had been then of his Gospel But the truth is that none of them at that time were come so far forward as to be Zuinglians For as for the King himself he hated them deadly both then and unto his dying-day as also the Lutherans tho' he bare somewhat more with them than with the other in respect of their holding the Real Presence in the Sacrament whereunto he was most devout And as for Cranmer and Cromwell it may be that in those days they were a little touched with Lutheranism the former to enjoy his Woman which he kept secretly by whom he was also made a Zuinglian in King Edward's days the second for his Gain and Advancement Yet the said Cromwell coming soon after this to be beheaded on the Scaffold said these words among others as Fox relateth them And now I pray you that be here to bear me record that I die in the Catholic Faith not doubting of any Article of my Faith no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been a Bearer out of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue c. And then a little after he addeth again The Devil is ready to seduce us and I have been seduced but bear me witness that I die in the Catholic Faith of the whole Church 14. Thus relateth Fox of his last Confession and putteth in his Margin this Note A true Christian Confession of the Lord Cromwell at his Death Which if John Fox mean truly indeed and that Cromwell himself meant it also truly and sincerely as he spake and was understood by the people then died he a Catholic in all points and believed all Sacraments of that Church which then in England was held for Catholic and opposite to the new Gospellers at that time by whom he confessed he had been somewhat seduced and yet denieth that ever he was a Bearer out of them as you see And if all this be true indeed how then can this Confession of the Lord Cromwell be called a true Christian Confession with John Fox seeing it is a Catholic Confession and renounceth Fox his Religion utterly And if it were a false feigned and dissembled Confession of Cromwell and meant contrary to the sound of his words at the hour of his death how was he a true Christian man in so dissembling and lying and this at his very going out of the World And here I would have John Fox to solve me this Dilemma both for his own and Cromwell's Credit whom notwithstanding all this Fox will needs enforce to be of his Gospel whether he will or no writing of him thus in another place In this Worthy and Noble Person besides divers other Eminent Virtues three things especially are to be considered his flourishing Authority his excelling Wisdom and his fervent Zeal to Christ and to his Gospel c. And so much of Him and his Fellow Cranmer the two chief Pillars and Under-props of John Fox's Gospel with King Henry 15. And hereby we may in part in contemplate the first Beginning Fountain Origin and Off-spring of John Fox's Gospel in England whereof we have spoken somewhat before in the last Chapter of the former Part of this Treatise where we alleged the words of William Tyndall written to John Fryth his Scholar at the very beginning when King Henry first seemed to favor the Gospel wherein Tyndall saith that he had smelled a certain Counsel taken against Papists but that Fryth must understand that it was not for God but for Revenge and to enjoy the spoil of the Church These were the first motives if we believe Tyndal whom John Fox holdeth and calleth an Apostle of England So as this testimony coming from Him must needs be also Apostolic if not Evangelical 16. But what was the progress of this Gospel so begun in England I have shewed before that not long after this beginning to wit in the year of Christ 1536 King Henry being disposed upon former motives to make some
to this or that Man or Woman For so he cometh in presently with his Examples of Queen Anne and Cromwell So long saith he as Queen Anne lived the Gospel had indifferent success but after that she by sinister instigation of some about the King was made away the course of the Gospel began again to decline But that the Lord then stirred up the Lord Cromwell opportunely to help in that behalf who did much avail for the increase of God's true Religion and much more had brought it to perfection if the pestilent Adversaries maligning the prosperous Glory of the Gospel had not by contrary practising undermined him and supplanted his vertuous proceedings 22. Behold here a wise Discourse of John Fox Whereby if nothing else were you might perceive how justly and truly that Spirit of Majesty that spake to him in his Bed upon a Sunday in the morning if you remember called him Thou Fool For that no man but a very Fool indeed would have brought forth these Examples to have proved his purpose being both impertinent and clearly false in themselves 23. And first they are impertinent or rather against himself for that they shew that his Gospel had no other beginning in England but upon Affection of Men and Women False also are the Examples if we consider the Times themselves for that the foresaid new Book of devised Articles mentioned by Hall and Hollinshead as the first public Alteration in points of Religion discovered in King Henry was made and set forth after the death of Queen Anne Bullen to wit upon the 8th of June 1536 whereas the Queen died upon the 19th of May before And Fox himself having related the said Articles and Book as set forth after the death of Queen Anne he saith thus This Book treated especially but of three Sacraments Baptism Penance and the Supper of the Lord for which the Lincolnshire men took Arms c. And then he addeth this Note in the Margin Alteration of Religion a little beginneth And after again presently this other Note Commotion in Lincolnshire Whereby is evident out of his own words that the first beginning of any alteration in points of Religion towards his Gospel was after the death of Queen Anne Bullen and consequently it is a ridiculous foolery which he writeth before That so long as Queen Anne lived the Gospel had indifferent success c. 24. The other Example also of Cromwell is no less apparently false for that besides the particulars which you have heard before of his assisting to punish and burn Protestants and his Sentence of death given against Lambert with the Protestation he made at his own death of his being Catholic and never doubting of any one Point of Catholic Religion Besides all this I say it is notorious that when the severe Statute of Six Articles was made against all sorts of Protestants in the 31st year of King Henry's Reign which was in the Month of April 1540 as appeareth both by the Book of Statutes it self and Hall Holinshead and other Chroniclers Cromwell was then in his highest Authority and Favor with the King as is evident for that in the time of the very same Parliament besides all his other great Offices before received as of Baron Chancellor Knight of the Garter Master of the Jewels Vicar-General in Spiritual Affairs and other like Titles he was created also Earl of Essex and High-Chamberlain of England which Holinshead setteth down in these words The 18th of April at Westminster was Lord Thomas Cromwell created Earl of Essex and ordained Great Chamberlain of England which Office the Earls of Oxford were wont ever to enjoy Also Gregory his Son was made Lord Cromwell c. Thus writeth he And if in Cromwell's most flourishing time this Act of Six Articles came out for punishment of Protestants the most severe that can be imagined how fond and childish a babling was that before used by Fox when he telleth us that as long as the good Lord Cromwell was in credit or bare Rule with the King their Gospel went prosperously c 25. Well then by all this we may see how poor and troden down a state John Fox's Church and Religion held under King Henry notwithstanding all his brags and flattering of him in his Pictures Which yet that you may not think we mean only of the temporal or external condition or contemptibility of his Church for of that perhaps he would brag seeing he defines his Church by the words obscure and troden down I would have you here consider briefly but two things only for the end of this Chapter which directly do appertain to the true spiritual misery of Fox's Church and Religion in those days under King Henry if a Confusion of fantastical Opinions Errors and Heresies may be called a Religion 26. The first is That in King Henry's days at leastwise for a great part thereof the Protestants Sects were not yet fully distinguished into their Classes or Orders but were a great confused heap of new Opinions all going under the name of Gospellers or Protestants as well Lutherans Oecolampadians Zuinglians and other Sacramentaries as Waldensians Wickliffians Anabaptists Libertines and other such-like So as in this first Heap and Mass of Gospellers were contained all the several Sects that since have been distinguished as the four Elements and particular parts thereof were contained according to the Poets Fiction in that great confused Chaos of the World before it was distinguished or to speak more properly they were as the Bears Whelps when first they are born and new fallen from their Mothers Womb to wit certain disform gross confused things which by often licking of their Parents are polished at last and brought to some fashion of handsom Creatures such as you know Bears Whelps to be 27. And even so was it in those days with Protestants Religion For that every man that would hold a new Opinion of what Sect soever or would speak against the Catholic Church or Doctrin then used was admitted presently for a Brother of the new Gospel and for a sincere Servant of God and holy Gospeller as John Fox every-where calleth them without distinction whether he were a Lutheran Zuinglian Anabaptist Waldensian Wickliffist Lolhard or whatsoever else but since that time this Chaos hath been somewhat more distinguished and polished and every sort of Sectaries divided into their Classes Which Luther himself began first to do noting nine distinct Sects to have risen in few years after him out of his Doctrin and these only of Sacramentaries Whereunto his chief Scholar Melancthon a little before his death in his Judgment written to the Palsgrave or Prince Elector of Rhene added six more to be among the Lutherans themselves But others that have gathered them more exactly and distinctly as Staphilus a most Learned Man and Counsellor to the Emperour Bishop Lyndan Dr. Gabriel Prateolus and others do divide them into a far great number
distributing first the Gospellers of our time that have proceeded of Luther and by occasion of his Doctrin since the year of Christ 1517 into three or four Classes whereof the first is of plain Lutherans divided among themselves into eleven Sects and these again being subdivided into other three Classes of soft rigid and extravagant Lutherans do make above thirty other divisions and Sects 28. The second general Classis is of Semi-Lutherani Half-Lutherans that do partly agree with Luther and partly disagree but yet with eleven differences which being obstinately held by their Authors and Professors do make eleven different Sects The third Universal Classis or Order of new Gospellers are of Anti-Lutherani those that are quite opposite to Luther as Sacramentaries and the like whereof are set down fifty-six distinct Sects and the first of these is of Sacramentaries being subdivided into nine Sects you may imagin to what Number the Sum will rise 29. The fourth general Classis of new Gospellers of our time are the Anabaptists begun by Bernard Rotman an unlearned Fellow of the Laity but a Scholar and Son of Luther about the year of Christ 1524 that is seven years after Luther began and this sort of men are divided again into thirteen Sects as in the foresaid Authors may be read All which deduction and distinction was not made nor known in England except very confusedly in King Henry's time but all were accounted good Gospellers and of one Church and Faction and so would John Fox have them accounted also now For proof whereof wheresoever they were contradicted restrained punished or burned for what Opinion soever John Fox putteth them down expresly for Confessors and Martyrs of his Church excepting only the Anabaptists which openly he doth not admit for that now also They are burned in England by the Protestant Magistrate but yet neither doth he reject them by Name but holdeth himself silent in their Affair tho' he doth set down sundry for Martyrs in his Calendar which held of their Opinions as in the next Part of this Treatise we are to shew by many Examples And thus much of the first Point concerning the Confusion Obscurity Impurity and Imperfections of John Fox's Church under King Henry which was not yet strained from her Suds if Fox at that time may be said to have had any Church at all 30. There followeth the other Point of Antipathy Contradiction and Exposition among themselves that were held by Fox to have been the chief Pillars of his Church in those days And as for the King Queen Ann Cranmer and Cromwell we have spoken of already The other if we believe himself were Thomas Bilney John Frith William Tyndall all three rubricated Martyrs in his Calendar And then in black Letters but of the same Order of Martyrdom Robert Barns William Jerome Thomas Gerard John Lambert Peter German Andrew Hewit John Colyns William Cowbridg and divers others that not only professed his Gospel as he saith but willingly also gave their Blood in a holy and lively Sacrifice for testimony thereof And to these he addeth divers holy Confessors of the same Confession to wit Erasmus Roterodamus Picus Mirandula Philip Melancthon King Edward VI. and the like 31. But now if I should go about to draw all these Martyrs and Confessors of his Church into any one form of Faith and Belief good or bad which is necessary you know to make a Church it would prove a far harder Enterprize than to couple all the Cats of any great City by the Heads together and to make them stand so for an hour of their own will looking one upon the other without turning their Heads aside For as for Bilney you shall perceive by my Treatise in the next part that he never held but very few of the Protestants Opinions and very many against Them and with Us and abjured those few of the Protestants at two several times and died in that Abjuration Frith also and Tyndall were most opposite to Fox in many Points of Belief I mean opposite both to Luther and Zuinglius in the Controversie of the Sacrament holding the Real Presence to be indifferent and to be believ'd or not believ'd as every man thinketh good with other notable particular Heresies of their own as in due place we are to shew Robert Barns was an earnest Lutheran as Tyndall testifieth to Frith And as for Gerrard Hierom Lambert tho' they were Zuinglians yet not after Fox's fashion but different from him in many Points of Doctrin as we shall declare when we come to handle of them severally as also of Ridley Hooper Rogers Latymer in the next part of this Treatise shewing that under King Henry they were only Lutherans if so far forward at that time 32. And as for Andrew Hewit he was of no Religion in particular when he died but said only that he would die for the Religion that John Frith held whatsoever it were as before we have noted Peter German inclin'd indeed to Zuinglianism But together with that as when we come unto his Holy-day we shall shew he denied Christ to have taken Flesh of the Virgin Mary and other like holy Assertions As for Colyns and Coubridge burned also for Heresie under King Henry and assigned for Calendar-Martyrs by Fox upon the 10th and 11th days of October himself confesseth afterwards upon better consideration That he thinketh them not worthy of the number of God's professed Martyrs but yet holdeth as he saith That they are belonging to the holy Company of Christ's Saints The first of these two held up a Dog to be worshipped of the People instead of the blessed Sacrament the second denied the Name of Christ flatly Which Fox not denying excuseth the matter thus saying That the one and the other of them were mad and distracted of their Wits as more largely we shall shew afterwards in the discussion of the Calendar And thus much of his Martyrs 33. Now for his Confessors Erasmus Roterodamus Picus Mirandula Friar Bucer Philip Melancthon King Edward VI. and others which he setteth down for Saints in the end of his Calendar and Month of December they do agree in Religion as just as Germans Lips to use the vulgar Proverb either with Fox or among themselves For as for Erasmus whom every where Fox maketh as it were the Father and first Master of new Gospelling in England you shall so hear him defend himself by his own words in the next Part of this Treatise as you will say they abuse him egregiously to hold him for any Protestant at all having written so sharply against their first Captain Luther as he did repeating often-times these words Christum agnosco Lutherum non agnosco Ecclesiam Romanam agnosco I acknowledge Christ I do not acknowledge Luther I acknowledge the Roman Church c. 34. And the like Injury they offer to Picus Earl of Mirandula who never held any
one Protestant Opinion in his life as we shall shew when we come to his place in the Calendar And as for Bucer and Melancthon they were Lutherans indeed and open Enemies for many years against Zuinglius and Zuinglians that are the Flower of John Fox's Church And tho' Friar Bucer afterward to have the free use of his Woman in England dissembled egregiously in some things to please the Protector for a time and seemed to bear with the Sacramentaries yet told he the Lord Dudley then Duke of Northumberland being asked confidently his opinion of the Sacrament by the said Duke in the presence of the Lord Pagett then a Protestant who testified the same publicly afterward that for the Real Presence it could not be denied if we believe all that the Evangelists do write But whether all be to be believed or no he said merrily that was a matter of more disputation 35. And lastly concerning King Edward VI. set down also by Fox in red Letters for a solemn Confessor of his Religion If we talk of King Henry's time he was a very young Confessor for that he was scarce nine years old when his Father died And it is very probable that the Religion which he at that Age could receive was rather such as his Father had caused him to be taught during his life than such as it pleased Fox to assign unto him afterwards But if Fox mean that he was a Confessor of their Religion after his Fathers death albeit it be hard to say of what Religion the Child would have been if he had lived yet do I think him rather worthy to be accounted a Martyr of Fox's Church than a Confessor Seeing it is probable that the bringing in of that Religion and change of state left by his Father was the cause of his immature death For that if matters had remained as his Father left them and no Protector chosen as he appointed nor Wriothesley the Chancellor put out of his Office nor other Catholic Councellors most faithful to the conservation of the Kings Blood had been disgraced and displaced by that unlucky change like it is that the good young King might have lived many fair years more and his two Sisters never have fallen into those imminent dangers of present destruction which they once saw themselves in by the ambition of the new Gospelling Faction But enough of this and of all the Reign of King Henry VIII Now shall we pass briefly over the rest that remaineth CHAP. XII Whether Fox's Church hath had any Place under King Edward Queen Mary and Her Majesty that now Reigneth and how far it hath been admitted or is admitted at this day ALbeit John Fox did Paint out King Henry VIII in the first page of his Life sitting with his Feet upon the Popes back and the Gospel in his Lap with his Sword lifted up in his right-hand to defend the same as before you have heard yet did he Paint Cromwell and Cranmer staying up the said Sword least it should fall upon the Protestants themselves as we have shewed that in effect it did But now in the first page of King Edward's Reign Fox hath a much more ample and triumphant Pageant for the Child above his Father Who though he were but nine years old yet seemeth Fox to make him a fuller Head of the Church than his Father placing him in a high Throne of Majesty and his stretched out Sword in the right Hand and with the other which is the left he delivereth the Gospel unto the People and Prelates that stand round about him Where Fox writeth in the Margent this Note King Edward delivering the Bible to the Prelates c. As tho' the Bible had taken Authority from the Childs delivering Who being so tender of Age as he was and of likelihood scarce able to read the same and much less to understand it as well he might have delivered them the Poem of Chaucer or the Story of Guy of Warwick or of Bevis of Southampton if it had been put into his Hand to deliver as this was by his Uncle the Protector that knew full near as little of the Contents as the Child himself 2. But besides this Majestical representation of delivering the Gospel there be two or three other Pageants in the same page The first is of pulling down Images with great diligence every where and burning them with this Sentence written under The Temple well purged And then is there a great Ship painted with Men Women and Children carrying their Church-Stuff into that Ship to wit Bells Books Images and Candles and amongst other things also the Blessed Sacrament And over the Ship is written thus The Ship of the Romish Church And on the side this Sentence Ship over your Trinkets and be packing you Papists And thus is John Fox's pleasant Head delighted with these Fancies But who seeth not how childish this folly is Seeing scarce six years after this triumph when Queen Mary came in a Man might have said to him again and his Fellows Ship over your Trinkets and be packing you Protestants 3. But if we consider indeed the different Wares and Trinkets which this Catholic Roman Ship carried away from England at that time and those which the new Protestants Ship brought in soon after from Germany Geneva Switzerland and other Places we shall easily discover whether the loss were greater for our Nation by the departure of the one or by the coming in of the other For that in the Roman Ship was carried away not only the blessed Sacrament as Fox saith and Painteth it out which yet is the highest and most precious Treasure that Christ hath left to Christians upon Earth but with that also all kind of vertue and honesty for the most part For that all Modesty Gravity Learning Piety Devotion Peace Concord Unity and Charity was carried away And in the new Gospelling Ship came in all the contrary Vices namely of Sedition Division Pride Temerity Curiosity Novelties Sensuality Impiety and Atheism And in place of many sober honest and grave men that retired themselves upon this change there came running into England a main number of wanton Apostata Priests and Friars each one with his Mate and Dame at his side hungry and turbulent people as Friar Bale Friar Bucer Friar Coverdale Friar Martyr and other like Who joined with other of their own Sect in England in such a vein of Innovations as quickly brought all upon their own Heads And so tho' after all these foresaid three Pictures and Representations to wit the Bible distributed the Churches spoiled and the Catholic Roman Ship sent away John Fox doth make a fourth fair Pageant of the Protestants kind and comfortable meeting together at their Communion Table and their peaceable breaking of Bread. Yet if you consider what presently ensued in their actions I mean of their changing chopping pulling down and setting up in those few years that it
with great difficulty Whereupon the said Parliament was continued in Disputation and Contention especially about this matter for the space of four Months and a half to wit from the 4. of November unto the 14. of March and in the mean space all was in suspence of what Religion England should be For as on the one side many that knew or suspected the Protectors inclination did think and lay Wagers that Zwinglianism would prevail so others hearing that Archbishop Cranmer and his party stood resolutely on the other side and had punished divers for speaking against the Mass and Real Presence in the Sacrament a little before to wit one Thomas Dobbe a Master of Art in Cambridge as Fox telleth us cast into the Counter by Cranmer and held there till he died and John Hume Imprisoned for the same Cause by the said Archbishop This I say made many to expect and Bett on the other side But especially this doubt and expectation was notorious in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge where Peter Martyr and Bucer had Read now for the space of a year and more and were oftentimes urged and pressed much by their Scholars whereof the far greater parts in those days were Catholics to declare themselves clearly of what Opinion they wear touching the Sacrament of the Altar and the Real Presence To wit whether they were Lutherans or Zwinglians But they kept themselves aloof and indifferent or rather doubtful so far as they could until the determination of the Parliament should come Yet was Peter Martyr put into a great strait thereby For that having taken upon him to Read and Expound to the Scholars of Oxford the first Epistle to the Corinthians wherein the Apostle in the Eleventh Chapter handleth the Institution of the Blessed Sacrament he had thought to have come to that place just at the very time when the Parliament should have determined this Controversie 34. But the Contention enduring longer by some Months than he expected he was come to the Eleventh Chapter long before they could end in London Whereupon many Posts went to and fro between him and Cranmer to require a speedy resolution alleging that he could not detain himself any longer but that being come to the words Hoc est Corpus meum he must needs declare himself a Lutheran or a Zuinglian But he was willed to stay and entertain himself in other matter until the Determination might come and so the poor Frier did with admiration and laughter of all his Scholars standing upon those precedent words Accepit Panem c. Et gratias agens c. Fregit c. Et dixit c. Accipite manducate c. discoursing largely of every one of these Points and bearing off from the other that ensued But when at length the Post came that Zuinglianism must be defended then stepped up Peter Martyr boldly the next day and said Hoc est Corpus meum This is my Body interpreting it This is the Sign of my Body adding moreover that he wondred how any man could be of another Opinion seeing this Exposition was so clear Whereas if the Post had brought other News himself also would have taught the contrary Opinion And this Story was testified whil'st they were alive by Dr. Sanders Dr. Allen Dr. Stapleton and others that were present at this Trifling and Tergiversation of this Apostate-Frier And thus began our Zuinglian Gospel in England under King Edward VI. 35. Now let us hear a word or two out of the Statute it self about this Communion Book and profession of Zuinglianism establish'd in England after two years strife among the Protestants Whereas of long time saith the Act there hath been in this Realm of England divers Forms of Common Prayer commonly called the Service of the Church as well concerning the Mattins and Even-Song as also the holy Communion called the Mass c. And whereas the King's Majesty with the Advice of his most entirely-beloved Vncle the Lord Protector and others of his Highness's Council hath heretofore divers times assayed to stay Innovations or new Rites concerning the premises yet the same hath not had such good success as his Highness required in that behalf Whereupon his Highness by the most prudent Advice aforesaid being pleased to bear with the frailty and weakness of his Subjects in that behalf of his great Clemency hath been not only content to abstain from punishment in that behalf but also to the intent that an uniform quiet and godly Order should be had concerning the premisses hath appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops to consider and ponder the premises and thereupon having as well an eye and respect to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Scriptures as to the Vsages of the Primitive Church should draw and make one convenient and meet Order Rite and Fashion of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments to be used in England Wales c. The which at this time by the Aid of the Holy Ghost with uniform Agreement is by them concluded set forth and delivered to his Highness's great comfort and quietness of mind in a Book entituled The Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments c. 36. This is the Preface to that Act of Parliament whereby you may see that this Communion-Book was devis'd first for bearing with the frailty of them that sought Innovations then that it was perform'd by uniform Consent Aid of the Holy Ghost according to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught in the Scriptures and lastly that the young Child-Prince received great comfort and quietness of mind thereby All which is ridiculous if you consider what a multitude of Errors and gross Absurdities the latter Protestants especially the preciser sort of them have gathered out against this Book yea after it was twice more reviewed altered and amended according to the pure Word of God as was pretended once in King Edward's days it self and then again in the beginning of her Majesties Reign whereof tho' I have spoken sufficiently in my Defence of the first Encounter against Sir F. Hastings yet cannot I omit to admonish the Reader in this place to read the ninth Chapter of the second Book entituled Dangerous Positions c. set forth by public Permission and printed in London Anno 1593. In which Chapter you shall see put together the words of divers new Gospellers concerning this Communion-Book affirm'd here in the Statute to be according to the most sincere and pure Christian Religion taught by the Scriptures But they say the contrary to wit that it is full of corruption and that many of the Contents thereof are against the Word of God the Sacraments wickedly mangled and prophaned therein the Lord's Supper not eaten but made a Pageant and Stage play that their public Baptism is full of childish superstitious toys 37. And finally not to stand any longer
upon this proof how the latter Gospellers according to their pure Word of God do reject and contemn the very pure Word of God of Cranmer and Ridley's time alleging for reason among other things as the Survey of pretended Discipline saith cap 28. That the Sun of the Gospel shineth more clear in these days than in those Not to stand I say upon this Fox himself doth sufficiently shew that this pure Communion Book and Order therein set down was mislik'd and rejected by the most zealous sort of Protestants even in those days as may appear by that which the said John Fox telleth us when he talketh of the Prophetical Spirit of John Rogers the Minister that was burn'd in Queen Maries days how he sent word to the Brethren by a certain Book-binder that except the Gospellers when they returned into England again for so saith Fox he prophesied they should did follow the Form and Plot set down by Him and Hoopâ—r different from this of Cranmer and others they should have as bad an end as he and his Fellows had that were burned under Queen Mary 38. But yet for the present this was the pure Word of God and the Work of the Holy Ghost and no man might mislike or reprove it without danger and great punishment especially if he was a Catholic for above all others they were to be punished especially the Catholic Bishops in Prison for resisting the former Book obtruded in the first Parliament which yet was pardoned to others for so saith the Statute immediately after in these words That all and singular person and persons that have offended concerning the premises other than such as now be and remain in ward in the Tower of London or in the Fleet may be pardoned thereof 39. But to return to our story and first planting of the Gospel under King Edward you must note That together with this Comedy of the new Book of Service disputed and passed in this Parliament wherein the Protector was a chief Part and Actor there was a bloody Tragedy handled in like manner whereof he was both Head and Instigator for that about the midst of the Parliament to wit upon the 16th of January he caused his Brother Lord Thomas Seymor High-Admiral of England to be suddenly arrested and sent Prisoner to the Tower being in Mourning-Apparel at that time for the late Death of his Wife Queen Catherine Parre and not suffering the said Brother of his to be heard or come to his Trial he caused a Condemnation to pass against him in the said Parliament which beginneth thus Whereas Sir Thomas Seymor Knight Lord Seymor of Sudley High Admiral of England not having God before his eyes c. Thus beginneth the Act and then followeth a long Narration of his Offences as That he desired to have the custody of the King was ambitions and married Queen Catherine Parre secretly before he told the King or his Brother of it and after help'd to make her away again with secret intention to marry the Lady Elizabeth if he could get her was ungrateful for many benefits both of the King and his said Brother the Lord Protector persuaded the young King to take the Government into his own hands and thereby to exclude the said Protector from his Dignity and Government It was inferred That the said Lord Admiral aspir'd to the Crown it self and to the Destruction of the King's Person Lands Realm Church and Commonwealth c. 40. All these things I say and many other are related in this Act of Parliament of Attainder against the Lord Seymor Sir William Sharington and other his Friends and Followers but not prov'd at all by any thing in the Narration But yet such was the force of his Brother and other chief Gospellers against him a doleful beginning of the new Gospel for him as he was condemned to be Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd and upon favor was Beheaded upon the 20th of March following And presently the Protector as triumphing both over his Mother and Brother as one said in those days for that the Church was as well his Mother as the Admiral his Brother he made a Proclamation upon the 6th of April to put down the Mass throughout the whole Realm whereupon there ensued such Revel presently in London and in other places of the Realm as was strange and pitiful the blessed Sacrament being thrust out in hast of every Church and Altars pull'd down and upon the 10th of April being but four days after the whole Cloister of St. Paul's Church in London was thrown down and together with That a goodly Work of Antiquity cunningly wrought called the Dance of Pauls environing the said Cloister was beaten down and defaced also another goodly Monument in like manner of Antiquity belonging to the same Church called the Charnel-house of Pauls where the Tombs Bones and Memories of dead Men were was all beaten down by the fury of this time and the dead Mens Bones cast out into the Fields as both Holinshead Stow and other Chroniclers do relate 41. And for that the Protector had designed to raise a famous Palace worthy of his Greatness and Renown for his Habitation and perpetual Memory called Somerset-Place he first caused the Parish Church of the Strand without Temple-Bar together with Strand-Inn and Strand-Bridge to be pull'd down to give place to that Palace and to the end he might have Stone for the same more near at hand and with less Charges he caused the fair goodly Church of St. John of Jerusalem near Smithfield belonging in former time to the Knights of Rhodes to be undermin'd and with Gunpowder to be overthrown and the Stone thereof to be applied to the building of his said House and Palace 42. And this was the form of the first planting of the new Gospel in London by Gunpowder tearing and renting of ancient Monuments and overthrowing of Churches far unlike to the first planting of Christian Faith in England by St. Augustin and his Fellows before in part by us described And if this Revel was in London in the sight of the Prince and Council and where most Order and Law ought to be kept we may easily imagin what was practised throughout all the other parts of the Realm where less respect was born to the public Magistrate by no less unruly Spirits than were in London whereupon the poor afflicted Catholic people were forced to take Arms for their defence And from hence began the Commotions and Insurrections above mentioned of divers Shires for retaining their Religion But being overcome and oppressed by Martial Law and by the Troops of English and Foreign Souldiers made for the Scottish Voyage not long before there ensued infinite Misery Murther Massacre and Mortality in the Realm All which the Earl of Warwick with the help of others of the Nobility laying afterwards to the Protector 's charge in the end of the very next year to wit the 3d of King Edward's Reign
must prepare me c. And having thus spoken he kneeled down saying to them that were about him I beseech you all to bear me witness that I die in the true Catholic Faith. And then said he the Psalms of Miserere and De Profundis his Pater Noster c. 47. This is Stow's Narration whereby you see first the dishonesty and falshood of the other Chroniclers that leave it quite out and the cozenage of John Fox that only saith it in two or three Lines and lieth most shamefully affirming That he having Promise made unto him that tho' his Head were upon the Block he should have his Pardon if he would recant he consented thereunto Which yet you see the Duke protesteth the contrary upon his Death that it was not for Flattery or hope of Life or upon any Man's Instruction but only upon Conscience first to save his own Soul and then for desire to deliver his natural Country from the Infection of Heresie and Calamities thereon ensuing 48. And thus much of those Men and their Fruits who first planted this Gosael But now as for the Means whereby these things were wrought you have heard them before that they were all commonly by pulling down thrusting out dissolving of Discipline giving immunity from punishments to all sorts of Heretics and of Marriage to loose Priests and Apostate Friers and other like licentious Liberties far different from the purity severity and strictness of Life used by the first Planters of Christ's Gospel And as for the form and fashion of this new Religion set up under this Child-King it was as you have heard both their own Men and ours testifie compounded and patched up of all diversity of Sects and Religions as it pleased the Composers many things they took and retained of ours as well in Doctrin as in Rites and Ceremonies Some things of the Lutherans some others of the Zuinglians some of the Relicks of King Henry's mutation as that of the Supreme Head of the Church a singular Point of Doctrin proper to England above all other Nations But most of this Composition was of their own Inventions which yet neither the Protestants that remained in secret under Queen Mary did wholly allow as appeareth by that which I have cited before of John Rogers's Prophecy nor the other that began again under her Majesty that now is did wholly readmit the form and fashion but made a new one of their own as by their Communion-Book is evident nor do the purer sort of Calvinists in these days any way like or approve the one or the other as before we have shewed 49. Whereupon I may conclude as well this Chapter as also this whole Second Part that neither under King Henry the VIII nor King Edward the VI. nor Queen Mary had John Fox any distinct Church extant or known to the World especially if his Church be the Puritan Congregation as he will seem to signifie in many places of his Acts and Monuments But whether he have any such Church now visible under her Majesty at this day in England and in what state and condition it standeth I will not stand to enquire or discuss but do leave it to my Lords of Lambert and London whom most it concerneth being sufficient for me to have shewed throughout all former Christian Ages that John Fox hath had no Church of any Antiquity and consequently if he he have any now it must be a very young Church and of so tender Age as he may marry her to what Sect or Sectary he listeth for her Youth and that with hope of Brood and Issue And so much of all this matter CHAP. XIII The Conclusion of both these former Parts together with a particular Discourse of the notorious different Proceeding of Catholics and Protestants in searching out the truth of Matters in Controversie BY all that hitherto hath been written and discoursed good Christian Reader about the former Subject of discerning true Christian Religion and the way whereby to know and find the same I do not doubt but that of thy prudence thou hast observed a far different course holden by us that are Catholics and our Adversaries in this behalf we seeking to make matters plain evident easie perspicuous and demonstrable so far as may be even to the Eye it self whereas our Adversaries and namely John Fox according to that which by reading this Treatise you have seen doth altogether the contrary intangling himself and his Reader with such Obscurities Difficulties and Contradictions both about Times Matter and Men as he findeth not where to begin nor where to end nor yet how to go forward or backward in that he had taken in hand which I suppose to have been abundantly shewed by that which hitherto hath been written For whereas we for our parts begin clearly with the very first Corps or Body of Religion Instituted by Christ himself and the first Professors thereof that made a Church or Christian Congregation and do never after leave the same but do deduce it visibly and without interruption from that time to this and thereby do shew the beginning and continuance of one and the same Religion from their days to ours John Fox on the other side knoweth not well either where to begin where to insist or where to end as sufficiently you have seen tried For albeit in the Tile of his Book he tells us that he will bring down his Church from the Apostles time to ours and then after in his Protestation to the Christian Reader he doâ—h tell us farther that his true Church is different from the great visible Roman Church yet in the prosecution of his Work he setteth forth and describeth only the Roman Church as before we have declared and doth not so much as name any distinct visible Church of his own or other except only of such Heretics as himself also condemneth for such different from the said Roman Church for the space of almost 1200 years and then falleth he into such a strange extravagant humor of building a new Church for himself and his out of all sorts and Sects of later Heretics as being not able in all Points for very shame to allow their Opinions which in many Points are most absurd and contradictory both to him and us as also among themselves he findeth himself extremely intangled nor cannot tell which way to wind tho' he be a Fox nor which way to turn his Head but is forced to double hither and thither to go forth and back say and unsay and to cast a hundred shadows of wrangling glosses upon the whole matter thereby to obscure the same to the Eyes and Ears of his Reader 2. And finally it seemeth to me that the difference between us and him and his to wit between Catholics and Protestants in this behalf is not much unlike to that of two Cloth-sellers of London the one a Royal Merchant which layeth open his Wares clearly giveth into your
hands the whole piece of Cloth at mid-day willeth you to view and behold it in the Sun removeth all veils pentices and other stoppings of light that may give obscurity or impediment to the manifest beholding handling and discerning thereof Whereas contrariwise the other being a crafty Broker or poor Pedlar having no substantial Wares indeed to sell but such as are false made and deceitfully wrought and taken up also for the most part of the others leavings seeketh by all means possible to sell in corners and to shut out the Sun that it be not well seen or to give you a sight thereof by false lights only neither will he deliver you the whole piece into your hand to be examined throughly by your self but sheweth you one end thereof only different from the rest which he suppresseth And this manner of proceeding shall you find verified on their side throughout this whose Treatise as we have done already I doubt not if you have read it over with attention yet mean I in this place to discover the same somewhat more in particular for an upshot and conclusion of these first two parts of my Treatise 3. Three special differences then I do find between our Adversaries and us concerning the Affair of this Treatise about the finding out of true Religion by the true Church and by the beginning progress and continuance thereof The first is the estimation of the thing it self The second the assigning out or description thereof The third the marks and properties whereby to know and discover the same Of every one whereof I shall speak a word or two in order 4. For estimation of the great importance and singular moment of this matter the difference is evident between us for that we affirm the finding out and holding this Church to be of such weight as that all lieth therein for certainty and security of belief and for determining of all doubts and controversies in all times and places and in all matters of Religion whatsoever even from Christ to the Worlds end For we say with S. Augustin when any difficulty falleth out Quisquis falli metuit hujus obscuritate quaestionis Ecclesiam de illa consulat Whosoever doth fear to be deceived by the obscurity of this Question in controversie let him go to the Church for his Resolution and he shall be secure We say also with Lactantius Firmianus before St. Augustin who was Master and Tutor to Crispus Son to Constantine the Great Sol◠Catholica Ecclesia est quae verum Dei cultum retinet hic autem est fons veritatis hoc domicilium fidei hoc templum Dei quo si quis non intraverit vel à quo si quis exierit à spe vitae ac salutis aeternae altenus est The only Catholic Church is that which hath the true Worship of Almighty God in it and this is the Fountain of all Truth this is the House or Habitation of Faith this is the Temple of God into which whosoever doth not enter or out of which whosoever doth depart he is devoid of all hope of Life and everlasting Salvation 5. Thus wrote Lactantius 1300 years ago and addeth presently these words following whereby he well sheweth the conformity of spirit of those old Heretics with ours at this day Sed tamen singuli quique coetus haereticorum se potissimum Christianos suam esse Catholicam Ecclesiam putant But yet every Congregation of Heretics do think themselves chiefly and principally to be Christians and their Church to be the Catholic Church And do not ours so in like manner at this day But let us go forward to speak a word or two more of the different estimation we make of this matter 6. St. Cyprian that lived more than Sixty years before Lactantius maketh the very same account with him and us that all is lost if we lose or miss this Church Ardeant saith he licet flammis c. Albeit such Christians as are not in this Church should live never so well yea should be so forward and fervous in defence of Christian Religion as they should burn in Flames for the same or be devoured by Beasts yet this should be to them Non corona fidei sed poena perfidiae Not a Crown of Faith but a Punishment for their Perfidiousness Which Doctrin of St. Cyprian St. Augustin as a devout Scholar of his doth often repeat Foris ab Ecclesia constitutus saith he to a Donatist aeterno supplicio punieris etiamsi pro Christi nomine vivus incendereris Thou being out of the Catholic Church thou shalt be punished with eternal torment albeit thou wert burned alive for the Name of Christ 7. And finally not to go from the forenamed holy Man St. Cyprian in this behalf who died for the defence of Christ's Faith and the true Catholic Church and is a most blessed Martyr and Doctor to us all he after a long Discourse made touching a Christian Man that misseth in this Point of finding out and following the true Catholic Church and yet in other things endeavoureth to live well and sheweth great Zeal in God's Cause and desireth in his Mind even to die for the same of this Man he pronounceth this Sentence Nunquam perveniet ad Christi praemia c. Alienus est prophanus est host is est habere non potest Deum Patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem This Man notwithstanding all his other good Works and Endeavors shall never come to enjoy the Rewards of Christ in Heaven he is an Alien he is Prophane he is an Enemy he cannot have God for his Father which hath not the Church for his Mother 8. Thus said St. Cyprian as also all ancient holy Fathers after him whereof I might alledge many Authorities if it were not over long and the same say we that are Catholics and do hold the same Faith and Church with them at this day We do hold I say that the first and principal Point of all other for a Christian Man that meaneth his own Salvation is to seek out the true Catholic Church and to consider whether he be of it or in it or no For if he be not then all other diligence and labor is void and in vain except it be to seek out this and if he be in it then is he in the right way of Salvation not for that all be saved who are within her as in the second Point shall be shewed but for that all those who are out of her shall be certainly damned as now you have heard out of the chiefest Fathers of the ancient Catholic Church And this is the first Point of singular moment for which we esteem this Church so highly for that no Salvation can be had without her 9. But Secondly we esteem also the importance of this matter by the great and excellent helps which in this Church above all other Congregations
Christian Men have to procure their Salvation tho' all do not use the same to their best benefit and thereby do miscarry For to come to some particulars we say That in this Church and no where else is the truth of Faith and certainty thereof and this by the perpetual assistance of the Holy Ghost promised thereunto by the Founder God himself In this Church is the infallible Judgment both about the Books of Scripture and their Interpretation as all other Doubts and Controversies according to that you have heard before out of S. Augustin In this Church alone and no where else is there true Priesthood by lawful Succession Unction and Imposition of Hands and consequently Remission also of Sins by the Authority they have from Christ to that effect In this Church is the true number use and force of holy Sacraments and Grace given by them In this Church is Unity of Faith and Doctrin Communion of Saints and of Merits and Prayers which no where else is to be found And finally in this Church alone is there warrant and security from Error assurance from overthrow failing or fading which security is established by the promise of Christ himself as our God Creator and Redeemer and to endure unto the worlds end 10. All these utilities and most singular benefits do we believe to be in this Catholic Church above all other Congregations in the world In respect whereof we hold this Church to be our ship our rock our castle our fortress our mistress our mother our skilful pilot throughout all storms of heresies our pillar and firmament of truth against falshood our house of refuge against tribulation our protection our direction our help aid and security in all points and if any man perish in her it is by his own default but out of her none can but perish And this is our estimation of this Affair 11. But now how different an account Protestants do make both of this or their own Church is easily seen by their own words and doings For as they contemn and impugn our Church which we hold for the only true so do they seldom speak of their own For when shall you hear a Minister or Protestant Writer allege the Authority of his Church against us or against his own Fellows when they fall out as often they do or if he should how lightly is it esteemed even by themselves You may read the eager Contentions of the Protestant Churches of Saxony which are Lutherans against those of Heidelberg and other Towns of the Palsgrave's Country that are of a different Sect and of these again against other Consorts of other Provinces both of Switzerland and other parts of Germany yea between the soft and severe Lutherans themselves as between the Calvinian Churches of England and Scotland and in England it self between the Protestants Puritans and Brownists at this day who are nothing else but soft and severe Calvinists In all which sharp Contentions if any part do but name the Authority of their several Church which is very seldom the other presently falleth into laughter holding the Authority thereof so ridiculous as it is not worth the naming so as the Argument taken from the Authority of the Church which with us is of so high esteem as we say with S. Augustin That we would not believe the Gospel if the Authority of the Church did not move us thereunto with these Fellows is most base and contemptible 12. Moreover when they talk of their own Churches tho' every Sect and Sectary for Honors sake would be content to have them accounted Catholic as Lactantius before testified of the Heretics of his time yet do they speak it so coldly and do use the word Catholic so sparingly as they will shew that in their Consciences they do not believe it and a man might answer them as S. Augustin answered Gaudentius the Donatist whose Sect being a particular company of Heretics in Africa presumed by little and little first in jest and then in earnest to call themselves Catholics and their Church the Catholic Church as Protestants do at this day and being reprehended for it by S. Augustin and others would needs prove the same by the Definition of Catholic taken out of S. Cyprian S. Augustin I say after a long refutation thereof out of S. Cyprian's words to the contrary concludeth thus Quid igitur vos ipsos c. Why then do you go about both to deceive your selves and other Men with impudent Lies against S. Cyprian If your Church be the Catholic Church by the testimony of this Martyr shew us that your Church doth stretch her beams and boughs throughout the whole Christian World as ours doth for this S. Cyprian called Catholic c. So as by S. Augustin's Argument if the Protestants cannot shew that their Church hath her beams and boughs spread throughout all the Christian World and that her Faith is the general Faith received amongst all Christians and not only of particular Provinces then cannot they call her or esteem her for Catholic as indeed they do not but for fashion sake and from the teeth outward as hath been shewed 13 For when they come to set her out in her best colours they make her but a very obscure base and contemptible thing first in outward shew calling her the poor oppressed and persecuted Church as Fox's words are troden under foot neglected in the World not regarded in Histories and almost scarce visible c. So as where all the ancient Fathers do triumph and vaunt against both Heretics and Heathens as we do at this day against Protestants that the Catholic Church is more eminent and splendent than the Sun it self and more famously known than any other Temporal Kingdom or Monarchy that ever was in the World Fox of his Church confesseth that she is scarce visible neglected in the World not regarded in Histories c. 14. And then again he playeth fast and loose making her visible and invisible Altho' saith he the right Church be not so invisible in the world as none can see it yet neither is it so visible again that every worldly Eye may perceive it So saith he But how contrary to this was S. Chrysostom who would not yield that the right Catholic Church could be so much as obscured by any force or means whatsoever and thereof vaunting against Infidels saith It may be perhaps that some Heathen here will despise my arrogancy about the Majesty of our Church but let him have patience to expect until I come forth with my Proofs and then shall he learn the force of truth and how it is easier for the Sun it self to be wholly extinguished than for the Church to be so much as darkned or obscured Thus said S. Chrysostom And mark good Reader the difference of Spirits S. Chrysostom vaunteth of the outward splendor and majesty of his Church and John Fox contrariwise doth
is to be Printed severally for that the bulk of these two hath grown to a sufficient bigness for one Tome or Volume only I might note to the Reader in this last Paragraph that as our Adversaries do imitate the Donatists in the Point before mentioned out of their Conference with S. Augustin and other Catholic Bishops so have they done it also hitherto in flying all equal and lawful Conference with us as the Donatists did with those old Catholics so much as lay in their power until it was imposed upon them by commandment of the Emperor at the petition of S. Augustin and the Catholic Party as the said Father doth relate in his forenamed Book written of that Conference telling us two points in particular of their dealing in that Affair which he expresseth in these words Qui causam bonam non se habere sciebant id egerunt primum ne collatio fieret aut causa ipsa ageretur sed quia hoc obtinere minimè poterant id effecerunt multiplicitate gestorum ut quod actum est non facilè legeretur The Donatists knowing they had an evil Cause endeavored first to bring to pass that the Conference should not be made nor the Cause it self be handled at all but when they could not obtain this then went they about to put down so many things in writing as they might not easily be read 33. Thus writeth St. Augustin and for this cause thought he good to set down a Sum of all that passed calling it Breviculum Collationum shewing perspicuously the infinite Cavils Frauds and Shifts of these Heretics to avoid all due trial for when after all other delays both Parties were now met together Instare caeperunt saith he ut priùs ageretur de tempore de mandato de persona de causa tunc ad negotii merita veniretur The Donatists began to make new instance after all other Cavils and Exceptions taken before that first it might be treated about the time that this Conference should endure and about the Emperor's Commandment or Edict and Clauses thereof and about the Person as well of the Judge and Assistants as the Disputers of both parts and finally of the whole cause of difference what had passed therein between them hitherto and then after all this forsooth they should come to examine the merits of the principal Business or Controversie in hand which in effect would never be for that about every one of these Points the Donatists had many Quarrels as S. Augustin sheweth and by each one thereof they sought delays and particularly whereas order had been taken that 18 Bishops of each side should suffice they would needs have all their side to be admitted and so for ostentation sake they entred saith S. Augustin with great pomp into Carthage to the number of 279 Bishops of that Sect of Donatus a pitiful sight for Catholics together with all their Train Other shifts delays and tergiversations of theirs I leave for brevities sake to be read in S. Augustin himself 34. But how well our English Adversaries have imitated this manner of proceeding of the Donatists for shifting off all publick Conference and Trial for these 44 years of her Majesties Reign being so often and earnestly demanded at their hands is sufficiently known and needeth not to be proved or repeated here But if it would please Almighty God to inspire her Majesty to force them thereunto as he did the Emperor to compel the Donatists to a publick Trial I do not doubt but the like Issue would ensue and the like Sentence be given in that Cause by any indifferent Judge as was given by Marcellinus in the former Controversie to wit as S. Augustin's words are Confutatos à Catholicis Donatistas omnium documentorum manifestatione pronunciavit Marcellinus did pronounce by his Definitive Sentence that the Catholics had confuted the Donatists with manifestation of all kind of Learning And so much for this Matter The End of the Second Part. FINIS Cause of Dedication The substance of the Book Time of Trial. 1 Cor. 11. Philip. 1. Ibidem 1 Thes 1. The honorable course of English Catholics Internal Tribulations Esai 1. 1 Cor. 7. Psal 118. Matth. 8. Marc. 4. Luc. 8. S. Paulin. ep 11. ad Severum Gallican orat in Panaegyric 1. Constantini The moral vertues of Constantine before he was a Christian Euseb l. 8. hist c. 26. The strange deliverances of His Majesty from many perils The King 's excellent Book entituled Basilicon Doron Three rare Points of His Majesty's Book No reason to be yielded why a man should be rather of one Sect than another 1 Reg. 3. Hab. 5. Euseb l. 1. de vit Constant c. 11. Sap. 9. Sir F. Hastings in his Reply pag. 192. How the first Part of this Treatise was increased Arist in topicis Cicer. 1. ad Heren de Orator Why the second part of the search of John Fox's Church was added Fox in the title of his Acts and Monuments in his Protestation to the English Church Why the third part of this Treatise was added about the examination of Fox's Calendar The diligence which men ought to use for informing themselves of the truth of Catholic Religion in time of Heresies Possidon in vit Aug. Aug. l. 4 5. confes Athan. in Symbol vers 2. Mat. 13. Aug. l. de morib Eccl. c. 17. Chry. hom 14. in c. 24. Mat. Matth. 24. Marc. 13. Joann 7. 1 Cor. 11. Chrysost opere imperfect in Matt. cap. 23. pag. 962. Chrysost ibid. A representation of such as are negligent in examining the truth of Catholic Religion Dangerous cogitations The contention about the House and Mannor place The Catholic Parties Plea for the House The application of the two former Examples Four points of consideration about matters of Faith. The first point how our articles of Faith are above man's Reason Greg. hom 36. in Evang. Athan. tract de advent 1. cont Apollin Aug. trast 79. in Joan. ser 1. de festo S. Trin. Hebr. 11. First cause of obscurity in Faith. Second cause Ambr. l. 1. de Abraham c. 3. Third cause Joan. 2. How God proceedeth in revealing his Mysteries Gen. 2.6.7.8 Gen. 20.22.23 Exod. 1.2.3 Deut. 33. Act. 7. Jos 15. How Christ our Saviour proceeded in revealing his Mysteries and why he appeared not to all Act. 10. Joan. 20. Christ's Resurrection how and to whom it was made manifest Matth. 28. John 20. Act. 2.10.13.17 Rom. 4.8.14 1 Cor. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 2 Tim. 2. Luc. 24. Marc. 16. 1 Cor. 10. Marc. 16. The second Point of this consideration that notwithstanding the Articles of our Faith cannot be demonstrated by Reason yet have they sufficient Arguments of credibility Rom. 12. 2 Pet. 1. Arguments of credibility used by S. Peter Matth. 17. Arguments of credibility are not so evident as are philosophical Demonstrations Arguments for proof of Christian Religion Arguments of credibility for Catholic Religion against all
Epist ep 25. About Fasting Virginity observation of Holydays Cent. 2. p. 65. Cent. 2. p. 65. Ignat. Epist ad Phil. Against Martyrdom Sacred Virginity Page 65. Cent. 3. p. 86. St. Cyprian accused to hate Women Cyp. l. de bono Puditiae Cyp. Serm. de nativ Christi Martyrdom Page 83. Invocation of Saints Cent 4. c. 4. p. 295. Ibid. p. 304. Traditions Monastical Life Reliques Page 300. Lib. 2. ad Marcell Ephr. l. de luctamin spiritus cap. 2. Page 301. Amb Serm. 6. de marg tom 3. in orat funeb de obitu Theodosii Cent. 4. p. 293. The sum of this Chapter and shameful shifting of Heretics Cap. 5. num 2 Supra ibidem Bed. l. 1. hist Ang. c. 23. deinceps Malm. de gest Regum Ang. l. 1. de Pont. Angl. l. 1. Galf. mon. hist Ang. l. 11. c. 22. Huntingt hist l. 3. c. 1. Two new wicked devised shifts Fox Act. Mon. p. 107. coll 2. n. 84. The defence of St. Gregory against Heretics Ioannes Diac. in vita Gregor Magni Isid de viris illustris c. 27. The testimony of Isidorus concerning St. Gregory Hildef libel de viris illustr The judment of St. Hildefonse Fox Act. Mon. col 2. n. 5. p. 105. Fox praiseth St Agustin our Apostle against his Will. Fox Act. p. 107. col 1. Fox seeketh to discredit St. Augustin Bed. lib. 1. hist c. 35. Jo. Bale cent 1. scrip Brit. fol. 35. Bales scurrulity against St. Augustin Of the miracles wrought by St. Augustin Greg. l. 7. Epist 30. Ind. 1. St. Gregories Relation of English Affairs About the Doctrin brought in by St. Augustin Fox p. 107. col 2. * A wise consequence for that now also Fonts would hardly suffice to baptize 10000 in a day Fox in Protest p. 9. Whether St. Augustin taught the Saxons true Religion Holin in descript Britan. c. 27. col 1. Whether Englishmen were ever true Christians before Luther's time Holinsh ibid. Most vile blasphemy against the first Christian Englishmen Baleus descript Britan. cent 1. fol. 35. Ibid. cent 5. fol. 245. How John Bale became a Friar De Reg. juris l. 6. c. Non solum Caet in Sum. Concil Trid. sess 28. cap. 15. How Bale was unfriared and made an Apostate Bale ibid. Fox p. 105. col 2. nu 5. Bed. l. 1. hist. c. 33. The wicked intents of our Sectaries That Protestants cannot be sure that they are Christians according to Fox and Holinshed See the Acts of Parliament Anno 31. Hen. 8. c. 14. anno 32. c. 26. anno 34. c. 1. Enc. 1. c. 3 4 5. Super ibid. * Enc. 1. c. 6.10 and 12. Baleus descrip Brit. cent 1. fol. 35. Fox in his protestation to the Church of England p. 9. * Sup. cap. 3. Sup. c. 1 3 5 6. That Rome changed not her Faith from Eleutherius to St. Gregory That the British Christian Faith was the same with the Romans Sup. c. 3. Fox pag. 117. col 2. a Greg. l. 5. ep 14. b Philas l. de haeres c Greg. l. 3. ep 32. d Greg. l. 10. in Job c. 29. e Niceph. l. 18. c. 53. Bed. l. 1. c. 25. Greg. l. 2. ep 36. indict 10. l. 9. ep 61. indict 4. The presence of British Bishops in Foreign Councils * See Syn. 2. Arelatens to 1. Concil and the subscriptions Cap. 2 3. Athan. Apol. 2. cont Arrian Hilar. de Syn. advers Arrian Observations out of Histories Chrys orat cont Gentes quod unus est Deus Gild. de excidio Britan. c. 26. The Britans use of taking Sanctuary swearing upon Altars Gildas ibid. Optat. lib. 6. Against King Aurelius Gild. ibid. pag. 122. Against King Maglocunus for leaving to be a Monk. Fox Act. Mon. p. 103. Against Priests that said Mass seldom and ill Gil. ibid pag. 132. Gildas ibid. Ibid. p. 133. Buying of priesthood Act. 2. Gildas ibid. Altars and Sacrifice among the Britans * Aug. to 10. ser 237. 251. de temp in concil Milevit c. 12. Cartha 2. c. 3. Concil Carthag 4. c. 84. quibus interfuit Augustinus Epiph. haeres 50. Euseb l. 5. hist c. 23. in vita Constant l. 3. c. 17. Bed. l. 1.6 c. 27. A Church dedicated to St. Martin among the ancient Christian Britans An evident Demonstration that the British Religion agreed with that of St. Augustin St. German and St. Lupus Bed. l. 1. hist c. 17 18 19 20 21. That St. German St. Lupus and St. Severus were Roman Catholics Relics of Saints Ibid. c. 18. Ibid. c. 18. The use of Lent among the Britans St. Dubritius Primate of Britanny Anno 522. Galf. hist Brit. l. 9. c. 12. and 13. Ibid. p. 70. Procession and Organs Bal. descript Eccles fol. 30. St. David of Wales Anno Domini 540. Camb. in Catal. script Britan. Polid. l. hist Angl. in fine Fox in his Protestation to the Church of England p. 9. 19 British Bishops and Doctors pretended by Fox to have been Protestants Neither Order nor Argument good in Fox Fastidius Priscus Trit de script Eccl. Bal. fol. 23. St. Ninianus Bed. c. 4. Hector Boet. l. 7. 15. Ioan. Fordonius l. 3. c. 9. Bal. ibid. St. Patricius St. Palladius Bal. ibid. fol. 23. Marian. Scotus in Chron. eodem Anno 430. Prosper in Chron. ann 432. 434. Bed. l. 4. hist cap. 30. St. Patricius Bal. descript Frit Cent. 1. fol. 25. Ibid. Prosp cont lib. Collat. in fine Bed. hist Ang. l. 1. c. 13. in l. de sex aetat Mar. Scot. l. 2. sex aetat an 432. Bacchiarius Joan. cap. in catal SS Brit. Polid. Virg. 1. histor Harpesf §. 6. cap. 22. Congellus Bal. fol. 29. Kentegernus Bal. fol. 32. Jo. Capg in catal Sanct. Brit. St. Asaph receiv'd his Consecration from Rome Bal. ibid. f. 34. Bal. ibid. f. 135. Bed. l. 2 hist c. 2. That the Religion brought in by St. Augustin was Catholic Greg. in epist ad Aug. Bed. l. 1. hist. c. 18 19 c. Either no true Church or Religion was in St. Gregory's time or else it was the Roman The continuation of Religion from St. August downward Bed. hist Ang. l. 1. c. 22. St. Aug. his Company landed in the Isle of Thanet The 1 Kingdom of Kent converted to Christian Faith anno Dom. 600. Bed. l. 1. hist Malm. l. 2. hist 2 Kingdom of East-Saxons converted 604. Lib. 2. cap. 5. 3 Kingdom of the East-Angles converted an Dom. 609. Malm. l. 1. hist c. 6. The 4 Kingdom of Northumbers converted an 626. 5 Kingdom of West-Saxons converted 635. 6 Kingdom of Mercians converted 635. 7 Kingdom of the South-Saxons converted anno 662. Marc. 16. Greg. hom 29. de festo Ascens Domini Marc. 16. Why Miracles ceased afterward The Primitive Church of Kent Malms l. 1. de gestis Pont. Ang. pa. 112. An infalliable principle Catholic Religion planted in England with great power of Miracles Marc. ultimo One Catholic Religion under States that were
41. l. 2. c. 28. Aug. tract 27. in Joan. Serm. de Sanctis St. Laurence speaketh like a flat Papist Prudent in hymn de Sancto Laurentio Pont. Diac. in vi◠Cyprian See also the 28 Epistle of S. Cyp. himself Supra p. 1. c. 6. * Cent. 3. c. 4. Old Martyrs massing Priests The glorious state of the Cath. Church under Constantine Euseb l. 4. de vit Constant Four Churches in Rome built by Constantine * Julius Firmicus l. ad Imp. de abol Idol Optat. l. 2. cont Parmen * Supra c. 4 5. The obscure mathematical Church of John Fox The chief Heretics of the first 300 years How old Heretics were persecuted How old Heretics agree to John Fox's Church Aug. l. 2. quaest Evang. c. 40. A point much to be noted Aug. l. de fide oper c. 14. de unico bap c. 10. Apud Thoed dial 3. Theod. l. 3. haeret fabulat c. 35. Old Heresies held formally again by Protestants Cornel. Papa apud Euseb l. 6. hist c. 35. Cyp. l. 4. ep 2. Hier. in prooem dialog contra Pelag. Chrys hom 43. in Joan. Aug. l. cont Manich. ep 28. Old Heresies fraudulently objected to Catholics The 1 fraud Aug. haeres 39. D. Thom. 2.2 q. 85. art 2. The 2 fraud Cent. 3. c. 4. § de Angelis About honorring and Invocation of Angels Cent. 3. c. 4. Epiph. l. 3. to 2. haeres 78 79. About the Heresie of the Collyridians Mark this discourse of Epiphanius about sacrificing in the New Law. Epiph. ib. Ibid. haeres 79. Christians Sacrifice The visible succession of the Church in the first 300 years The sum of that which hath been said hitherto * Part. 1. c. 5 6. The conclusion of this Chapter with an offer to Fox Part. 1. c. 8. The Fathers Doctors and Councils of the second 300 years after Christ John Fox findeth not a hole for his poor Church in those 300 years The Heretics of the second 300 years after Christ In his protestation to the English Church p. 9. Communication of Doctrin between Protestants and Heretics of the second 300 years after Christ Aug. lib. de haeres haer 69. Optat. l. 2. idem l. 6. Aug. haer 54. Pacian ep 1. 3. ad Simpron Aug. haer 53. Aug. haeres 82. Hier. lib. cont Jovinian Hier. lib. cont Vigilantium The poor shift of John Fox Fox pag. 95. John Fox's shift to fill up this second Book An. 180. Fox in the Title of his Acts and Monuments In his Protestation to the English Church pag. 10. What Fox should have treated in his second Book second 300 years after Christ Sup. part 1. cap. 5. Why Fox writeth nothing of the Church of Britanny in these three Ages Exc. 2. c. 5. sup p. 1. c. 6. The substance and method of the Magdeburgians Centuries Cent. c. 4. p. 159. The praise of the Doctors Fathers of the fourth Age by the Magdeburg About Free-will Cent. 4. p. 211. Ib. pag. 287 291. Cent. 4. p. 231. Cent. 4. c. 4. Cent. 4. p. 294. Ephr. l. 2. de compunctione cordis c. 3. The blessed Sacrament Cent. 4. pag. 242. Ambr. lib. 4. de Sacr. c. 4. Hil. l. 8. de Trinitate Nazianzen orat 1. in Juliam Ambr. lib. 5. ep 33. Nissen Orat. Catechistica Cent. 4. pag. 292. Hier. in cap. 3. ad Galat. Enc. 2. cap. 16. Cent. 4. pag. 293. Theoph. Alex. lib. 3. de Paschate Cent. 4. p. 242. Hil. in Ps 118. The Fathers condemn'd for divers Doctrins held against Protestants Cent. 4. p. 299. Epiph. tom 2. lib. 2. Cent. 4. p. 303. Cent. 4. cap. 6. p. 407. num 50 54. Euseb Athan. S. Basil Socr. l. 5. c. 22. Theod. l. 5. c. 18. Opt. l. 6. Zoz l 6. c. 6. Eus l. 4. de vit Constant Opt. l. 1. cont Parmen Basil Basil ep 63. Zozim l. 4. c. 16. Cent. 4. p. 118 119 120. p. 431 432.433 The ancient observation of Fasts Fox p. 95. How Fox filleth up his second Book with matter not to his purpose The third station of Times from K. Ethelbert an 600 to K. Egbert an 800. Why Jo. Fox shifted over these 200 years so slightly The contemptuous writing of John Fox in this station of 200 years Popes Emperors of these 200 years The chief Doctors from an 600 to 800. Council General Heretics of this time Conversion of England The growth and progress of the English primitive Church in this time Fox's scoffing story of the English primitive Church p. 107 113 c. Bed. l. 1. hist c. 21. Fox p. 113. Mat. 18. Bed. l. 4. hist c. 5. Malm. de gest Pont. Angl. l. 10. Fox p. 112. col 2. n. 63. Decrees of an English Synod an Dom. 680. out of Fox Fox p. 115 col 1. n. 84. The Decrees of a second Synod out of Fox an Dom. 747. Deceitful turnings windings of Fox Bed. l. 4. c. 5. Bed. ibid. Wilful Errors of John Fox Bed. l. 4. c. 5. Cambd. in desc Britan. Com. Hartf p. 302. Fox p. 112. Sup. c. 2 3 4. Bed. l. 4. hist c. 5. The wicked falsifying of S. Bede by Fox Fox is taken in his malicious dealing about the Decree of Observation of Easter Sup. c. 3. Fox 112. About marrying a second Wife the first being alive Bed. l. 4. c. 5. pag. 227. Guileful Omissions of John Fox Bed. l. 4. c. 5. A Synod holden at Herudfrod an 673. Bed. l. 4. c. 17. Leo PP epist 10. ad Flavian Theod. dial 2. Evagr. l. 2. c. 4. A second Council of Archbishop Theodorus The manner of decreeing in old Synods and National Councils according to their Ancestors (a) Anno 315. (b) Anno 380. (c) Anno 428. (d) Anno 457. (e) Anno 532. Fox p. 113. An. Dom. 682. The Council of Constantinople in Trullo Plat. in vit Agath PP Paul. Diac. l. 1. hist Malm. l. 1. de gest Pont. Angl. p. 112. Aug. l. de utilitate credendi c. 17. The fourth station from an Dom. 800 to 1066. Fox p. 121. The eighth General Council An. Dom. 870. The Heresies of these Ages The Fathers and Doctors of these Times The Archbishops of Canterbury in these Ages Kings of England in this Time. Fox in protest ad Eccl. Angl. pag. 10. What Fox handleth in these 300 years Martyrolog Rom. 5. Junii Willeb in ejus vita Vicelius in hagiolog Epitome operum Bed an 754. Adams Bremens hist Ecc. c. 4. St. Boniface an English-man an Apostle of Germany an 750. (a) St. Willebrord an 730. B. of Vtright Bed. l. 3. hist c. 27. l. 5. c. 23. Tritem de viris illust l. 3. c. 137. (b) St. Willebaldus an 760. B. of Ayste Democrit l. 2. de missa in catalog Episc de Ayste Marcell in vit S. Suneberti c. 6 14. (c) S. Willehad B. of Breme an 780. (d) Adam Bremens c. 9 11 12. St. Willericus B. of Breme an 790. Brem in hist c. 12. Erpold Lindenb in hist Archiep. Brem
in Willericum Fox p. 115. Ib. col 2. n. 78. Fox goeth about to discredit S. Boniface Bal. cent 1. script Brit. fol. 54. The wicked Speech of Jo. Bale against St. Boniface * Bal. cent 5. fol. 245. About the Fable of Pope Joan. Fox 〈◊〉 Fox's feigned Fable of Pope Joan blasphemously related Aug. ep 165. ad literas cujusdam Donatistae If Pope Joan had been she had not prejudiced the Church The Whore of Babylon was the persecuting City 〈◊〉 Rome 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 Emp 〈…〉 The beginning of the Fable of Pope Joan. Mart. Polon in vit Imperat. Pontif. Papa 109. an Christi 855. * See a large refutation of this Fable by Onuphrius in his addition to Platina Anastas in vit Leon. 4. Ancient Authors that do exclude Pope Joan. Ado in chron an Dom. 855. An Argument out of English Historiographers for overthrowing the Fable of Pope Joan. The going of K. Ethelwolf and Prince Alfred to Rome Stow an 871. Mat. West 849. Floren. in chron eodem an Why English Writers should have written of Pope Joan more than others if any such had ever been Mart. Polon l. 4. de Pont. an 855. Plat. in Joan. 8. (a) Malm. in fact Reg. Episc Ang. an 847 855. (b) Flor. Vigorn in chron an 853 858. (c) Mat. West in chron * There is extant the Original of Sigebertus in Monast Ie mlacensi in Flanders and of the corruption of Marianus Scotus in this behalf read him that setteth forth Metrop Alberti Cranzii anno 1574. A most evident Argument against the Fable of Pope Joan. Epist Leon. 9. cap. 5. 23. A probable conjecture of the first Origin of this Fable of Pope Joan. Mart. Pol. in vit Imp. Pont. an 855. Plat. in vit Joan. 8. * Cent. 9. c. 20. * Mentz Bibliand in tabulis Chronic. Fox p. 124. * This is evident by Cedrenus Zonaras in vit Michael Theod. Imp. an Christi 856. Fox ibid. Ancient circumspection in chusing Popes Why Fox falleth out with the ancient Christian English Kings Queens See Fox from p. 130 131 c. Fox p. 120. The Donation of King Ethelwolf an 844. Fox p. 120. Malm. l. 2. de gest Angl. Reg. Fox ibid. The Donation of K. Ethelbald Malm. l. 1. de gest Reg. Angl. Fox p 120. Jam. 2. Fox p. 123. The Alms and pious deeds of K. Ethelwolf Fox p. 133. A Miracle in Rome upon an English Duke an 933. Malm. l. 2. de gest Reg. Angl. fol. 28. Miracles wrought in Rome in confirmation of Catholic Religion an 933. Fox p. 126. Ex vetusto exemplari hist Carianae Fox relateth matters against himself Fox p. 138. A lying Discourse of Fox about Monks Whether Monks were meer Lay-men in old time or no Epiph. l. 2. tom 1. Magd. cent 4. c. 4. p. 303. Epiph. ibid. A clear testimony of St. Epiphanius for the Continency of Monks and Priests in his days A notable story of K. Alfred how he received comfort in his tribulation by St. Cuthbert Malm. l. 2. de Reg. Angl. fol. 23. The pitiful case of K. Alfred pressed by the Danes an 879. Malm. ibid. The appearing of St. Cuthbert to K. Alfred his Mother A strange attempt victory of K. Alfred upon the vision of St. Cuthbert Fox p. 128. The great impudence of John Fox in rejecting all our ancient Historiographers How God doth appear and reveal matters oftentimes in sleep * 2 Paral. 33. Levit. 19. Deut. 18. Psal 72. Num. 12.6 Luth. l. de abroganda Missa Luth. l. Teutonico ad Senator Civit. Germ. Apoc. 1.10 Luth. cont Reg. Angl. Kemnit in repet de Eucharist art 31. Zuingl in subsid de Euch. Mat. 16. Exod. 12.11 * Infra cap. 8. part 2. Apoc. 13.5 The visions of John Fox's Martyrs Fox p. 1547. col 1. num 46. Fox p. 1398. Ridiculous Dreams Visions allowed by John Fox in his Martyrs The Scottish Apostate Friars Dream his Kate. Fox p. 1843. col 1. num 44. Fox p. 1844. Ibid. How far Catholics give credit to Visions and how they examin the same Heretical hatred against St. Cuthbert Bed. l. 4. hist c. 27 28 29. vid Praefat. Bal. cent 1. script Brit. in Cuthb Mat. 19. Bal. ibid. * Supra part 1. cap. 6. Ibid. Ibid. The Archbishops of Canterbury of this time scoffed at by Fox Malm. l. 1. de gest Pont. Ang. fol. 115. Heretics seek to pull down and not to build up * Part. 3. Fox in the Title of his Acts Monuments The fifth station from an Dom. 1066 to 1370. Fox in his Title Fox p. 1. The brevity barrenness of John Fox in preforming his promise Why Fox writeth so little of the former Ages so largely of the sequent How Fox cometh to increase his latter Books An impossible device to annihilate this universal visible Church A strange incredible mutation * Sup. cap. Dan. 2.44 The Prophesie of Daniel about the stability of Christ's Church In his Protestation to the Church of England P. Innocent 3. Blond decad 2. l. 7. p. 297. Geneb in chron an 1198. Cicarell in vit Innocent 3. Platin. ibid. Anselm Ep. ad Abb. Hryfarg Mar. Scotus Lamb. Scaph Vinc. Gallus Sigebert Avent omnes in chron an 1075 1076 c. About Pope Hildebrand alias Gregory VII The Vices of the Emperour Henry IV. An. Dom. 1069. Lamb. Schaf An. Dom. 1071. Lamb. ibid. Vrsp an Dom. 1068. Lib. 4. Annalium Boiorum Mar. Scot. in chron an 1075. Fox p. 158. c. 2 A great contradiction against Pope Hildebrand for his Christian Zeal The first Calumniation Distinct 32. c. Praeter § verum c. nullus The second Calumniation Fox ubi supra Cent. 11. c. 7. Fox p. 158. col 2. n. 80. Many Falsities Impostures of Fox Distinct 32. c. Praeter § verum apud Anton. tit 16. Tritem in chron an 1075. The true state of the Controversie Marian. Scot. in chron an 1096. tom 4. Conc. p. 79. The Council of Nice forbidding wives to Priests and Bishops Conc. Nic. Can. 3. The whole stream of ancient Greek Fathers against the marriage of Priests Origen hom 23. in lib. Num. Euseb l. 1. Demonstrat Evang. c. 9. Cyr. Cat. 12. * Sup. c. 3. Cent. 4. p. 303. Epiph. tom 1. l. 2. Item haeres 59. Fox p. 164. Anton. part 2. tit 16. cap. 1. § 1. Naucl. generat 37. The death of Gregory VII Plat. in vita Greg. 7. A ridiculous device of Fox how 2 Popes overthrew the Church Fox divers times contradicting himself about binding and loosing of Sathan In protest p. 9. Acts Mon. pag. 1. Fox p. 27. c. 1. Apoc. 13.5 Apoc. 12. Apoc. 11.11 Dan. 11. Aug. l. 20. de Civit. c. 6 7 8.9 Primas 19. Bed. in 20 Apoc. Greg. l. 9. mor. c. 1. l. 35. c. 20. Apoc. 20. Joan. 12. Psal 140. Job 9. Apoc. 13.4 5 6 Act. Mon. p. 90. A Revelation imparted to John Fox The succession of