much excesse of indulgence vnder the Papacie may bee as much good as it selfe is euill Neither doe we censure that Church for what it hath not but for what it hath Fundamentall truth is like that Maronaean wine which if it bee mixed with twentie times so much water holds his strength The Sepulchre of Christ was ouer-whelmed by the Pagans with earth and rubbish and and more then so ouer it they built a Temple to their impure Venus yet still in spight of malice there was the Sepulchre of Christ and it is a ruled case of Papinian that a sacred place looseth not the holinesse with the demolished walles No more doth the Romane loose the claime of a true visible Church by her manifold and deplorable corruptions her vnsoundnesse is not lesse apparent then her being If shee were once the spouse of Christ and her adulteries are knowne yet the diuorce is not sued out CHAP. II. The Originall of the differences IT is too true that those two maine Elements of euill as Timon called them Ambition and Couetousnesse which Bernard professes were the great Masters of that Clergie in his times hauing palpably corrupted the Christian World both in doctrine and manners gaue iust cause of scandall and complaint to godly minds Which though long smothered at last brake forth into publike contestation augmented by the fury of those guiltie defendants which loued their reputation more then peace But yet so as the complainants euer professed a ioynt allowance of those fundamentall truths which discried themselues by their bright lustre in the worst of that confusion as not willing that God should leese any thing by the wrongs of men or that men should leese any thing by the enuie of that euill spirit which had taken the aduantage of the publike sleepe for his tares Shortly then according to the Prayers and predictions of manie holy Christians God would haue his Church reformed How shall it be done Licentious courses as Seneca wisely haue sometimes beene amended by correction and feare neuer of themselues As therefore their owne president was stirred vp in the Councell of Trent to crie out of their corruption of discipline So was the spirit of Luther somewhat before that stirred vp to taxe their corruption of Doctrine but as all beginnings are timerous how calmely did he enter and with what submisse Supplications did hee sue for redresse I come to you saith he most holy Father and humbly prostrate before you beseech you that if it be possible you would be pleased to set your helping hand to the worke Intreaties preuaile nothing The whiles the importune insolence of Eckius and the vndiscreete carriage of Caietan as Luther there professes forced him to a publike opposition At last as sometimes euen poysons turne medicinall the furious prosecution of abused Authoritie increased the zeale of truth Like as the repercussion of the flame intends it more And as zeale grew in the plaintiue so did rage in the defendant So as now that was verified of Tertullian A primordio c. From the beginning righteousnesse suffers violence and no sooner did God begin to be worshipped but Religion was attended with enuie The masters of the Pythonisse are angrie part with a gainefull though euill guest Am I become your enemie because I tolde you the truth saith Saint Paul yet that truth is not more vnwelcome then successefull For as the breath of a man that hath chewed Saffron discolours a Painted face so this blunt sinceritie shamed the glorious falshood of superstition The proud offenders impatient of reproofe trie what fire and faggot can doe for them and now according to the old word suppressed spirits gather more authoritie as the Egyptian violence rather addeth to Gods Israel In so much as Erasmus could tell the Rector of Louan that by burning Luthers bookes they might rid him from the Liâ—raries of men not from their hearts The ventilation of these points difâ—used them to the knowledge of the world and now vpon serious scanning it came to this as that honor of Rotterdam professe Non defuisse â—hat there wanted not great Diâ—ines which durst confidently affirme that there was nothing in Luther which might not be defended by good and allowed Authors Nothing doth so whet the edge of wit as contradiction Now hee who at first like the blind man in â—he Gospell it is Bezaes comparison saw men like trees vpon more cleare light sees and wonders at â—hose grosse superstitions and tyrannies wherewith the Church of God had beene long abused And â—ow as the first Hue and Crie rayseth a whole Countrie the world was awakned with the noyse and startling vp saw and stood amazed to see its owne slauerie and besotâ—ednesse Meane while That God who cannot bee wanting to himselfe rayseth vp abettors to his truth The contention growes Bookes flie abroad on both parts Straight Buls bellow from Rome nothing but death and damnation to the opposites Excommunications are thundred out from their Capitoline powers against all the partakers of this so called heresie the flashes of publike Anathemaes strike them downe to hell The condemned reprouers stand vpon their owne integritie call heauen and earth to record how iustly they haue complained how vniustly they are censured in large Volumes defending their innocence and challenging an vndeniable part in the true visible Church of God from which they are pretended to bee eiected appeale next to the Tribunall of Heauen to the sentence of a free generall Councell for their right Profer is made at last of a Synode at Trent but neither free nor generall nor such as would afford after all semblances either safetie of accesse or possibilitie of indifferencie That partiall meeting as it was prompted to speake condems vs vnheard right so as Ruffinus reports it in that case of Athanasius Iudicandi potestas c. The power of iudging was in the accusers contrarie to the rule of their owne Lawe Non debet c. The same partie may not bee the Iudge accuser witnesse contrarie to that iust rule of Theodericus reported by Cassiodore Sententia c. The sentence that is giuen in the absence of the parties is of no moment We are still where we were opposing suffering In these termes wee stand what shall wee say then if men would either not haue deserued or haue patiently indured reproofe this breach had neuer beene Woe bee to the men by whom this offence commeth For vs that rule of Saint Bernard shall clearely acquit vs before God and his Angels Cum carpuntur vitia c. When faults are taxed and scandall growes hee is the cause of the scandall who did that which was worthie to bee reproued not he that reproued the ill doer CHAP. III. The reformed vniustly charged with noueltie heresie schisme BE it therefore knowne to all the World that our Church is onely Reformed or
he eates and drinkes the Sacrament of so great a thing vnto his owne iudgement because hee presumed to come vncleane vnto those Sacraments of Christ which none can take worthily but the cleane Thus he Neither is this his single testimonie but such as hee openly professeth the common voyce of all his Predecessours And a little after vpon those words The flesh profiteth nothing hee addeth The flesh profiteth nothing if yee vnderstand the flesh so to bee eaten as other meate as that flesh which is bought in the Shambles This is the ordinary language of Antiquitie whereof wee may truely say as the Disciples did of Christ Behold now thou speakest plainly and speakest no Parable At last ignorance and misunderstanding brought forth this Monster of opinion which superstition nursed vp but fearefully and obscurely and not without much scope of contrary iudgements till after Pope Nicholas had made way for it in his proceedings against Barengarius by so grosse an expression as the Glosse is faine to put a caueat vpon Anno 1060. the Laterane Councell authorized it for a matter of faith Anno 1215. Thus young is Transsubstantiation Let Scripture and Reason show how erroneous Transsubstantiation SECT II. Against Scripture WEre it not that men doe wilfully hoodwinke themselues with their own preiudice the Scripture is plaine enough For the mouth that said of bread This is my Bodie said also of the same bodie My flesh is meate indeed long before there can be any plea of Transsubstantiation And I am the bread that came downe from Heauen so was he Manna to the Iewes as he is bread to vs And Saint Paul sayes of his Corinths Yee are the body of Christ yet not meaning any transmutation of substance And in those words wherein this powerfull conuersion is placed hee sayes only This is not this is transsubstantiate and if whiles he sayes This is hee should haue meant a Transsubstantiation then it must needs follow that his Bodie was transsubstantiate before hee spake for This is implyes it alreadie done He addes This is my Bodie His true naturall humane Bodie was there with them tooke the Bread brake it gaue it eat it if the Bread were now the Bodie of Christ either hee must haue two bodies there or else the same bodie is by the same bodie taken broken eaten and is the while neither taken nor broken nor eaten Yet hee addes which is giuen for you This was the bodie which was giuen for them betrayed crucified humbled to the death not the glorious bodie of Christ which should bee capeable of ten thousand placcs at once both in Heauen and Earth inuisible incircumscriptible Lastly he addes Doe this in remembrance of mee Remembrance implyes an absence neither can wee more bee said to remember that which is in our present sense then to see that which is absent Besides that the great Doctour of the Gentiles tels vs that after consecration it is bread which is broken and eaten neither is it lesse then fiue times so called after the pretended change Shortly Christ as man was in all things like to vs except sinne and our humane bodie shall be once like to his glorious bodie The glorie which is put vpon it shall not strip it of the true essence of a bodie and if it retaine the true nature of a bodie it cannot be at the same instant both aboue the Heauens and below on Earth in a thousand distant places He is locally aboue For the heauens must receiue him till the times of the restitution of all things He is not at once in many distant places of the earth for the Angell euen after his Resurrection sayes He is not here for he is risen SECT III. Transsubstantiation against Reason NEuer did or can reason triumph so much ouer any prodigious Paradoxe as it doth ouer this In so much as the Patrones of it are faine to disclaime the sophistry of reason and to stand vpon the suffrages of faith and the plea of Miracles We are not they who with the Manichees refuse to beleeue Christ vnlesse hee bring reason Wee are not they who thinke to lade the Sea with an egge-shell to fadome the deepe Mysteries of Religion with the short reach of naturall apprehension Wee know there are wonders in Diuinitie fit for our adoration not fit for our comprehending But withal we know that if some Theologicall truths bee aboue right reason yet neuer any against it for all veritie complyes with it selfe as springing from one and the same Fountaine This opinion therefore wee receiue not not because it transcends our conceit but because we know it crosseth both true Reason and faith It implyes manifest contradiction in that it referres the same thing to it selfe in opposite relations so as it may be at once present and absent ' neere and far off below and aboue It destroyes the truth of Christs humane bodie in that it ascribes quantitie to it without extension without localitie turning the flesh into spirit and bereauing it of all the properties of a true bodie those properties which as Nicetas truly cannot so much as in thought be separated from the essence of the bodie In so much as Cyril can say if the Deitie it selfe were capeable of partition it must bee a bodie and if it were a bodie it must needs bee in a place and haue quantitie and magnitude and thereupon should not auoid circumscription It giues a false bodie to the Sonne of God making that euery day of bread by the power of wordes which was made once of the substance of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost It so separates accidents from their subiects that they not only can subsist without them but can produce the full effects of substances so as bare accidents are capeable of accidents so as of them substances may be either made or nourished It vtterly ouerthrowes which learned Cameron makes the strongest of all reasons the nature of a Sacrament in that it takes away at once the signe and the Analogie betwixt the signe and the thing signified The signe in that it is no more bread but accidents the Analogie in that it makes the signe to be the thing signified Lastly it puts into the hands of euery Priest power to doe euery day a greater Miracle then God did in the Creation of the World for in that the Creatour made the Creature but in this the Creature daily makes the Creatour Since then this opinion is both new and conuinced to bee grossely erroneous by Scripture and reason iustly haue we professed our detestation of it and for that are vniustly eiected CHAP. VIII The newnesse of the Halfe-Communion THe noueltie of the Halfe-Sacrament or dry Communion deliuered to the Laitie is so palpable as that the Patrones of it in the presumptuous Councell of Constance professe no lesse Licet Christus c. Although Christ say they after
yeelded that no man hath power to set to a seale but he whose the writing is Sacraments then being the seales of Gods gracious euidences whereby hee hath conueyed to vs eternall life can bee instituted by no other then the same power that can assure and performe life to his creature In euerie Sacrament therefore must bee a diuine institution and command of an element that signifies of a grace that is signified of a word adioyned to that element of an holy act adioyned to that Word Where these concurre not there can bee no true Sacrament and they are palpably missing in these fiue Adiections of the Church of Rome Lastly The Sacraments of the new Law as Saint Austen often flowed out of the side of Christ None flowed thence but the Sacrament of water which is Baptisme and the Sacrament of bloud in the Supper Whereof the Author saith This cup is the new Testament in my bloud which is shed for you The rest neuer flowing either from the side or from the lips of Christ are as new and mis-named Sacraments iustly reiected by vs and we thereupon as vniustly censured CHAP. XVI The newnesse of the Doctrine of Traditions THe chiefe ground of these and all other errours in the Church of Rome is the ouer-valuing of Traditions which the Tridentine Synode professeth to receiue and reuerence with no lesse pious affection then the Bookes of the Old and New Testament and that not in matter of Rite and Historie only but of faith and manners also Wherein as they are not vn willing to cast a kind of imputation of imperfection vpon the written Word so they make vp the defects of it by the supply of vnwritten Traditions to which indeed they are more beholden for the warrant of the greater part of their super-added Articles then to the Scriptures of God Both which are points so dangerously enuious as that Antiquitie would haue abhorred their mention Neither is any thing more common with the holy Fathers of the Church then the magnifying the complete perfection of Scripture in all things needfull either to be beleeued or done What can be more ful and cleere then that of Saint Austen In his quae apertè c. In these things which are openly laid forth in Scripture are found all matters that containe either faith or manners Cardinall Bellarmines elusion is not a little preiudiciall to his owne cause He tels vs that Saint Austen speakes of those points which are simply necessary to saluation for all men All which hee acknowledges to be written by the Apostles But besides these there are many other things saith hee which wee haue only by Tradition Will it not therfore hence follow that the common sort of Christians need not looke at his Traditions That commonly men may be saued without them that Heauen may bee attained though there were no Traditions Who will not now say Let mee come to Heauen by Scripture goe you whither you will by Traditions To which adde that a great yea the greater part if wee may beleeue some of their owne of that which they call religion is grounded vpon only Tradition if then Tradition bee only of such things as are not simply unnecessary to saluation then the greater part of their mis-named Religion must needs be yielded for simply vnnecessary to all men And if wee may bee saued without them and bee made Citizens of Heauen how much more may we without them be members of the true Church on Earth As for this place Saint Augustines words are full and comprehensiue expressing all those things which containe either faith or manners whether concerning Gouernours or people If now they can finde out any thing that belongs not either to beleefe or action wee doe willingly giue it vp to their Traditions but all things which pertaine to either of those are openly comprized in Scripture What can bee more direct then that of holy Athanasius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The holy Scriptures inspired by God are in themselues all-sufficient to the instruction of truth and if Chemnitius construe it All truth this needs not raise a cauill The word signifies no lesse for if they bee all-sufficient to instruction they must needs be sufficient to all instruction in the truth intended Tertullian professes openly Adoro Scripturae pleniâ—udinem c. I adore the fulnesse of Scripture Let the skill of Hermogenes show where it is written if it bee not written let him feare that woe which is pronounced against those that adde or detract Thus he Who can but feare that the Cardinall shifts this euidence against his owne heart For saith he Tertullian speakes of that one point That God created all things of nothing and not of a pre-existent matter as Hermogenes dreamed now because this truth is clearely expressed in Scripture therefore the fulnesse of Scripture as concerning this point is adored by Tertullian And for that Hermogenes held an opinion contrarie to Scripture he is said to adde vnto Scripture and to incurre that malediction Now let any reader of common sense iudge whether the words of Tertullian be not generall without any limitation and if the first clause could bee restrained the second cannot Scriptum esse doceat c. Whatsoeuer therefore is not written by this rule may not be oberuded to our beleefe Neither doth he say If it be written against but If it be not written and his challenge is nusquam legi that the words are no where read as if this were quarrell enough without a flat contradiction to what is read So as the Cardinals glosse meerely corrupts the Text How easie were it for me to tire my reader with the full suffrages of Origen Cyprian Chrysostome Basil Cyrill Epiphanius Hierome Ambrose Theodoret Hilarie Vincentius Lirinensis and in a word with the whole streame of Antiquitie which though they giue a meet place to Traditions of Ceremony of historie of interpretation of some immateriall verities yet reserue the due honour to the sacred monuments of Diuine Scriptures Our learned Chemnitius hath freely yeelded seuen sorts of Traditions such as haue a correspondence with or an attestation from the written word the rest we do iustly together with him disclaime as vnworthy to appeare vpon that awfull Bench amongst the inspired Pen-men of God SECT II. Traditions against Scripture IT is not to be imagined that the same word of God which speakes for all other truths should not speake for it selfe how fully doth it display it 's owne sufficiencie and perfection All Scripture saith the Chosen Vessell is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse Profitable saith the Cardinall but not sufficient Many things may auaile to that end whereto they suffice not So meat is profitable to nourish but without naturall heat it nourisheth not Thus hee Heare yet what followeth That the man of God may bee perfited and thorowly