to our purpose at length he saith that the Catholikes must vnderstande that all seruice of any honor and sacrifice is giuen of the Catholike Church together both to the Father and to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost that is to the holy Trinitie For though he that offereth directeth the prayer to the person of the Father this is not any preiudice to the Sonne or to the holy Ghost He declareth it thus because The conclusion of the same prayer for so muche as it hath the name of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost sheweth that there is no difference in the Trinitie Looke in the Canon of the Masse and you shall more easily perceiue his meaning The prayer there beginneth thus being directed to the Father Te igitur clementissime pater c. Therefore ô most mercifull Father with humble supplication we beseech thee for Iesus Christ his sake thy sonne our Lorde c. And it is in the ende concluded thus Per ipsum cum ipso in ipso c. By him and with him and in him is to thee God the Father in the vnitie of the holy Ghost all honor and glory world without ende Amen Wherevpon also among his instructions to his friend Petrus Diaconus which you alleage vnder the name of S. Augustine here cap. 10. dem 24. Fulg. alia◠Aug. de fi◠de ad Pet. Diac. ca. 19 béeing too light in very diuerse companies in his pilgrimage to Hierusalem he sayth Holde most firmely and in no wise doubt but to the Sonne with the Father and the holy Ghost they did sacrifice those beastes in the time of the olde Testament And to him nowe in the newe Testament with the Father and the holy Ghost cum quibus illi est vna diuinitas he hauing one Godhead with them the H. Churche Catholike ouer all the worlde ceasseth not to offer in fayth and charitie the sacrifice of bread and wine c. Therefore you might as well haue charged Christ him selfe for directing so likewise the prayer that he taught vs Our father c. v. Of ministring the blessed Sacrament to Infantes But the other error is he saith a notable error and suche a practise as euen the Papistes them selues will confesse to be erroneous This it was S. Augustine and Pope Innocentius and al the Catholike Fathers of that time and all the Westerne Church yea all the Church excepting none but only the Pelagians ministred the Sacrament of Christes body and bloud to Infantes yea and thought it as necessarie for them as Baptisme to wit that they must receiue it or els they should be damned And will not D. Allen deny this will the Papistes them selues confesse it for so you say boldly but in your boldnesse you open withall your wilfull ignorance Fulke neuer read the Councel of Trent Who would thinke it if your selfe did not by this confesse it that you neuer read the Councell of Trent And what a presumption is this for you to preach yea and to write against the doctrine of the Catholike Church nothing regarding eyther what it is or how it is explicated defended defined by occasion of your heresies of the Catholike Bishops in their Generall Councell As if an Arrian doctor should neuer haue séene the Councel of Nice Well our countrey men may perceiue by this what blind guides they haue of you Reade the Councel of Trent I exhort both you and all other that can specially that halfe of it which is of doctrine and you wil either imbrace it as it is most worthy and as I pray God to giue you the grace or at leastwise you shall better know therby what it is that you must confute where now most of you do commonly fight only with your owne shadowes either of ignorance or which is worse of wilfulnes not knowing what in déede we teache There to our present purpose you shall find the said Councel after that it hath said Trid. Con. Se. 21. ca. 4. That Infantes lacking the vse of reason are by no necessitie bound to the sacramentall receiuing of the Eucharist to declare moreouer and say Neque ideo damnanda est antiquitas c. Neither for all that is antiquitie to be condemned if it practised that maner sometime in some places For as those most holy Fathers had pro illius temporis ratione answerable to that time sui facti probabilem causam a reasonable cause of their so doing so verily that they did it not for any necessitie to saluation without controuersie it must be beleeued This declaration of the Councell may satisfie not onely all Catholikes to whom it is the declaration of the Holy Ghost him selfe but also any other reasonable man to whom it can not possibly be lesse then the declaration of many most learned and most discrete men which knew well what they said and that they could not be therin disproued In so much that Kemnitius the Lutheran Protestant not so much as once toucheth the Councell for this though he write of purpose against the Councell Yet for more satisfaction of all men I say further to open the case particularly The heresie of the Pelagians was that Man or Fréewill of man is still notwithstanding the fall of Adam See A◠ad quo haer 88 lagian◠sufficient of his owne naturall strength without Christ or the grace of Christe to saluation And so consequently they saide children to be borne in innocencie and not in sinne The Catholikes to proue the contrarie of children alleaged the necessitie of their Baptisme confirming it by that Scripture Except one be regenerate of water non potest introire in Regnum Dei he can not enter into the kingdome of God Ioan. 3 The Pelagians séeing so plaine a text confessed they Originall sinne No hereticall pertinacie would not let them but a straunge shifte they had They graunted vpon this text that children vnbaptized should not in déede come into the kingdome of God for lacke of Baptisme but yet for their naturall innocencie without Christ they should haue life euerlasting in a certaine other place out of the kingdome of God The Catholikes replyed against that vaine shift and alleaged this text Ioan. 6 Except ye eate the fleshe of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud non habebitis vitam in vobis you shall not haue life in you Who now would accuse those Fathers of error Yea who would not admire in them such readines to replye so properly to the purpose or let any man stand vp and say that the Pelagians are not by this confuted and their children excluded as before from the kingdome of God so now also from life and so left in death and therefore in sinne and therefore againe not innocent and all this for lacke of the Grace of Christ in Baptisme But now putting the case that a childe were baptized and then immediately died before he receiued sacramentally the Eucharist who reading innumerable places
plainely Angeli Dei August de Ciu. li. 15. cap. 22.23 The Angels of God where we haue nowe but onely Filij Dei The sonnes of God meaning as it is now commonly thought The ofspring of Seth that they marryed with the daughters of men that is with the ofspring of Caine which aâ—ore they refrained religiously iij. Touching Second mariages and Sainct Hierome Ar. 35. But of Iustinus his time you saye further It seemeth also that the Churche in his time was in some error about Seconde mariages and diuorcementes Had you no more to saye but It seemeth and yet coulde not absteine from accusing the Churche of God neither yet doe you tell vs why it séemeth so you neyther alleage nor so much as quote any place to proue it In the workes of Iustinus him selfe I dare say you haue it not If you tooke it out of the Magdeburgian Centuries followe my counsell hereafter and looke euerye thing first your selfe in the Authors before you beléeue your fellowes or masters any more otherwise they will deceiue you still and so you againe deceyue your puenies if they againe will trust your word Supra ca. 4 Of like stuffe it is that you accuse S. Hierom also for Second mariages say a Pur. 419. Yea Ieronym b Ar. 46. the great aduaÌ„cer of virginitie dispraiser of mariage was almost fallen into the heresie of TertulliaÌ„ in condemning second mariages You say but almost that also wtout any testimony either alleged or quoted Bylike you neuer read S. Hieroms Apologie pro libris aduer Ioui where at large he defendeth him self against all such cauils of his enemies Amongst much more thus he saith there Non damno digamos prope â— imò nec trigamos c. I do not condemne them that are twisemaried no not thrisemaried also if it may be saide eightmaried Reade that booke from the beginning and stand out if you can that very countenance onely of this most graue singular doctor wherwith he speaketh to his backbiters saying An ego rudis in Scripturis c. O belike I was altogether ignorant in the Scriptures and began then first to reade the holy bookes and therfore was not able in my writing to walke straight betwene virginitie and mariage but whiles I exalted virginitie agaynst Iouinian I condemned mariage with Marcion and Manicheus And yet so bold you be with him behind his back as you think that you lay vnto him agayne other two such perilous assertions such erroneous and hereticall absurdities Ar. 46. as no yong scholar of diuinitie would fall into To destroy the humanitie of Christ and To giue diuinitie vnder the Martyrs To report the trueth Vigilantius the heretike did say against praying to Saintes Hier. ad Vigil 2 That the soules of the Apostles and Martyrs can not be present at their sepulchres and where els they would This doth S. Hierom proue to be absurde and against the Scripture considering that The diuels gadde ouer all the world and with marueilous celeritie are present euery where And the Apocalipse saith of the Saintes Apoc. 1â— They folow the Lambe whither soeuer he goeth Of which place S. Hierome gathereth thus Si agnus vbique c. If the Lambe be euery where Ergo also these that are with the Lambe must be beleeued to be euerywhere Not meaning in personall presence euery where at once for so much nedeth not to the Inuocation of Saintes but of such power they be that they heare their suiters in all places at once and can be personally present to heale and helpe whom they will euen as the Lambe that is Christ according to his humanitie as your selfe confesse and as throughout that booke the worde is vsed heareth his suiters in all places at once and in personall presence assisted S. Stephen Act. 7. whomsoeuer els he will I say according also to his humanitie as in that respect likewise he said Mat. 2. â— All power is giuen to me in heauen and in earth And therfore you shal neuer be able in the matter of Inuocation of Saints to answer that text They follow the Lambe whither soeuer he goeth hauing said afore that he stood ouer the mount Sion so as Stephen saw him standing But you must be fayne to deny the Inuocation hearing assisting of Christ according to his humanitie as much as you denie the inuocation hearing and assisting of them that be so with Christ S. Hierome is to olde a scholer in the Scriptures or rather to perfect a master for you to answere or oppose him iiij Touching praying to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost If these afore be but particuler or such other persons as imply not the whole Church but yet two most euident examples you haue in store against the whole vniuersall true Church The first that the third Councell of Carthage though a Prouinciall Synode yet hauing the authoritie of a generall Councell because it was confirmed in a generall Councell defined that it is vnlawfull to pray to God the sonne and God the holy Ghost Mary this is a great matter in déede and incomparably worse then for Vigilantius or you to say that it is vnlawfull to pray to Christ according to his humanitie or to his Apostles and Martyrs But how appeareth it that they defined so because they determined that al prayers at the Altar should be directed only to the Father and not to the Sonne Con. Car. 3. ca. 23. or the holy Ghost The wordes of the Councell truely reported are these Vt nemo in precibus c. That no man in prayers name eyther the Father for the Sonne or the Sonne for the Father For that were to confound the persons after the heresie of Sabellius It followeth And when the Altar is stoode at let the prayer be directed alwayes to the Father Now doth it folow of this that no prayers may be directed to the Sonne and holy Ghost Such are his necessarie collections or also that the very prayers at the Altar may not be directed to them that they may not I say because for order sake they are appoynted to be directed to the Father The Arrians in S. Fulgentius time aboue a thousande yeres agoe Fulgen. ad Moninum li. 2. quaest 2. ca. 2.5 knowing this selfe same order to haue procéeded from the Apostles and to haue bene receiued and alwayes continued in all Liturgies or Masses throughout all Christendome esteemed it amongst their arguments as aperse But he teacheth the Catholikes to answere both those Arrians and this Protestant First he repeateth the argumeÌ„t speaking to his friend Moninus Dicis a nonnullis te interrogatum c. Thou sayest that many haue asked thee of the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ which many thinke to be offered to the Father onely Also thou saiest that this argument is as it were the triumph of the heretikes Then he answereth it at large
neyther hath priuilege nor authoritie and yet out it commeth by permission at the least to make forsooth a face and showe of somewhat for a time and if after it chaunce to be of some Catholike dasht out of countenaunce then the shame to be no mans but onely Fulkes All which considered I doubted a while whether it were good to returne him an answer or no least peraduenture I should but lease my labour rather to expect yet somewhat longer whether any do answer my Motiues or Demaunds as by aduise out of England I haue nowe more then this tweluemonth wayted therevpon Yet my resolution hath bene séeing that abundans cautio non nocet to put out my hande a litle and take of his vizard that being playnly discouered euery man may beholde and abhorre his foule fauour and beare me witnesse that he had bene better to kéepe in not onely those nine yeres and two yeres but also for euer following rather the ensamples of those other two brethren mentioned in his preface to the Reader of whom the one purposed to haue answered the booke of Purgatory himself but afterward vndertooke rather the printing of Fulkes answere the other learnedly began the answering of it but was he knoweth not how letted from the accomplishing of the same So hath Satan hitherto hindred the setting abrode of this answere sayth he of his owne but God hath now at length brought it forth I doubt not he addeth but to his glory and the confusion of satan in his members the Papistes As I also doubt not but God in déede hath brought it forth to his glory and to the confusion of heresie so that satan had done more politikely to haue hindred still if he could the setting abrode of it such stuffe it conteineth Better stuffe we should haue had if better had they had Well séeing that M.D. Allen is otherwise and better occupied I who haue already succéeded him in his Articles and do owe vnto him at one worde all duetie both for the publike and namely for my priuate will here with the helpe of God laye so much of Fulks wares open out of both his bookes that although my meaning is directly against his first booke yet my treatise shall appeare to be a iust reply to both his bookes First therefore I will shew briefly how he confesseth that out of the true Church is no saluation See the contentes more at large in the ende of this booke to this ende that when as in my processe it shall be manifest that he and his felowes are out of the true Church and that we haue the true Church both they may clearely sée in what case they stand and their felowes may looke in time vnto their reconciliation Secondly I will shewe somewhat more at large for what space he graunteth the true Church to haue continued in sight and knowledge of the world and what persons and companies to haue bene of it to the ende that neither he nor no man else being able to proue that we agrée not with those times and persons in substance of religion or haue gone out of the vnitie of their communion it may euidently be séene that we likewise at this time be of the same true Church and he with his fellowes to be without the true Church because they be out of our Church Thirdly for as much as on the other side he could not denie but that he and his agrée not with the saide true Church I will shew how he is fayne to holde that the true Church may erre and that he chargeth it then with the same errours with the which he chargeth vs now to the end that thou mayst sée that for all those surmised errours he hath not any iust cause to denie vs the true Church which he giueth to them that with vs were in the same errours Nay I will further declare in the fourth place that he chargeth them with diuers errors wherewith he neither can nor doth charge vs that it may much more appeare that we haue the true Church nowe if they so much worse then we had the true Church then Fiftly I wil report the reason for which by his saying they had the true Church then notwithstanding their errors to the end that where thou shalt sée it to be such a reason as agréeth to vs nowe as well thou mayst perceyue that he must no lesse graunt vs the true Church now After this I will note briefly his zeal towards Caluin and others that in déede are or at least be vnfaignedly thought of him to be of his Church at this time how that he can not in any wise beare any thing to be spoken agaynst them whereas yet he not onely can beare but also him selfe speaketh so much agaynst the olde auncient Church and the members thereof And in consideration hereof my Catholike zeale must do no lesse as béeing in déede with all other Catholikes of this time a member of the very same auncient Church in olde time but answere for the said Church shewing in euery particuler how vnworthily and vniustly he chargeth it with erring Which I will in like maner do for the Church also of later times defending it likewise against all his like accusations of it Seuenthly I will declare howe that séeing manifestly the true Church Councels Fathers and all other euidences of Christian Religion to make cléerely against him and his he is faine and nothing abasht at the matter to take exception against all by the bare name and colour of Onely Scripture and therein behaueth him selfe so boldly as if the holy Scripture were as manifestly with him as all the other are manifestly against him Where also because like an other Phormio homo confidens he prouoketh vs to a disputation of Scripture I will make him a reasonable offer Eightly I will most cléerely shew how that not withstanding all these great crakes and bolde facinges of his he hath not for all that in these two bookes alleaged so much as one text of Scripture that maketh any whit against vs. And to that purpose I will aunswer all his allegations first concerning Onely Scripture to be credited next concerning the Church whether it can erre and whether we haue it or they then concerning Purgatory and last of all concerning all other matters that any where he mentioneth by the way Ninthly I will likewise shew whereas he maketh himselfe so sure of Scripture that he holdeth the testimonies of Councels and Fathers to be no confirmation of trueth and alleageth them sometimes notwithstanding although because of his so holding I might neglect those allegations yet I will shewe I say that of all which he alleageth no one neither expoundeth any Scripture nor beareth any other testimonie with him against vs. Which wil be a plaine demonstration of that which I proposed here aboue in the second Chapter to wit that wée haue still the true Church because we still so throughly and entirely agrée
necessarie to saluation that a Christian man should so beleeue the Catholike Church because the Church may erre Agayne in the same place But to beleeue al and euery thing that the Catholike Church by common consent doth mainteine is no Article of our fayth and therfore not necessarie to saluation The second part That the true Church did also erre and that in the same poyntes as we now do erre in j. Where he chargeth them with many poynts together Now further that the true Church did also in dede erre first in the same poyntes wherein our Church now erreth as they charge it thus he saith Ar. 35. Si patrem f. Beelzebub vocauerun◠quanto magis domesticos eius◠Matt. x. Many abuses and corruptions were entred into the Churche of Christe immediatly after the Apostles time which the diuel planted as a preparatiue for his eldest sonne Antichrist By Antichrist he meaneth God forgiue him his blasphemie the vicar of Christ him selfe and so consequently by that preparatiue he meaneth such poynts of the Popes religion as are found agaynst the Protestantes in antiquitie Where to minister him some light by the way if it may please God to open his eyes let him consider that he must confesse no lesse Infra c. 11. cont 8. yea much more that the Arian Sabellian Nestorian and infinit other old Heresies detested now of both our parts were a preparatiue for Antichrist and therfore séeing that Bonifacius the third and the other Popes after him haue not receiued those confessed heresies that it followeth necessarily therof that the Popes are not Antichrist But that I stray not further from my matter but rather reserue euery thing to his proper place he cōmeth else where to particularities and saith Pu. 419. And this was a great corruption of those auncient times that they did not always weigh what was most agreable to the worde of God but if the Gentiles or Heretikes had any thing that seemed to haue a shew of pietie or charitie they would draw it into vse What any thing without exception Go too then and name somewhat for ensample So they tooke the signe of the crosse from the Valentinians What more Oblations for the days of death and byrth of the Gentiles Foorth a Gods name Prescript times of fasting and vnmeasurable extolling of Sole life in the ministers of the Church from the Manichees Tacianistes and Montanistes And yet what more Prayer for the dead of the Montanistes Forth agayne Purgatory fire of the Origenistes Say on still Yea Ieronym was almost fallen into the heresie of Tertullian in condemning seconde mariage Once more to ease that stomacke Yea euen the name of sacrifice which was commonly vsed for the celebration of the Lords supper they tooke vp of the Gentiles All these eyght poyntes he so noteth in the Fathers of Gods Church together in one place Againe in an other place after the sayings of Iustinus Martyr and Ireneus alleaged Ar. 60. The other writers of later yeres saith he we are not afrayd to confesse that they haue some corruption wherby you may seeme to haue colour of defence for Inuocation of Saintes prayers for the dead and diuers superstitious superfluous Ceremonies And that to the same they were no lesse addicted then we are he confesseth plainly where he graunteth that they accounted the contrarie for no better then heresie Ar. 44.45 46. You may perchaunce saith he note the names of them that preaching the truth of our doctrine against your receiued errors were accounted of the world for Heretikes And a litle after I wil not dissemble that which you thinke the greatest matter Well then confesse the truth Aerius taught that prayer for the dead was vnprofitable as witnesseth both Epiphanius and Augustinus which they count for an error Also he taught that fasting dayes are not to be obserued if he espied the superstition of fasting dayes and reproued it that was no error at all And who els Iouinian affirmed that virginitie was no better then mariage which if it be well vnderstood is no error at all And if he taught further that suche as could not conteine though they had vowed virginitie should neuerthelesse be maried Moreouer if he taught that fasting abstinence from certaine meates and other bodily exercise of them selues profite litle it was no error he saith and yet S. Ieronyme was a most bitter enemie vnto Iouinian Any more Last of all Vigilantius wrote agaynst Inuocation of Saintes superstition of Reliques and other Ceremonies Him Ieronym reproueth or rather rayleth on him Modestly for his reasons are nothing worth that he hath against him Therefore howsoeuer Ieronym esteemed him in his rage if he had none other opinions contrary to the trueth we doubt not to acknowledge Vigilantius as many godly and learned Bishops of his time did for a true preacher and reprehender of that superstition whervnto Ieronym was to much addict He said afore that he would not dissemble and yet you sée his ifs and Hierome alone against many godly and learned Bishoppes Therefore to make it yet more playne howe in clearing these Heretikes he chargeth the Fathers I must report what he hath likewise in other places ij As touching Vigilantius and inuocation of Saintes by it selfe As where D. Allen said Pur. 306 310. So their citing out of S. Ambrose for the improuing of the inuocation of holy Saintes is no more but an abuse of the simples ignorance knowing well that he and all other of that time did practise prayers both often to all holy Martyrs and sometimes peculiarly to such whom for patronage they did especially choose of deuotion amongest the rest To this he answereth Honorably Touching Ambrose which was sodenly made a Bishop before he was a perfect Christian if some steppes of Hethenish Inuocation or Rhetoricall apostrophees and prosopopees appeare to be in him and some other about his time yet was not that generally receiued of all the Church in his time Also where the question is asked Ar. 39. Whether men began sodenly to require the helpe of Saintes in heauen He answereth Whether sodenly or by litle and litle man were brought to suche superstition that they required helpe of Saintes it maketh litle matter yet it is to be thought that it grewe vp as other errors by litle and litle And S. Augustine in his booke De cura pro mortuis agenda wearieth him selfe and in the ende can define nothing in certayne Howe the Saintes in heauen should heare the prayers of men on earth Pur. 315.316.317 Although he can not define Howe yet neuerthelesse sayth D. Allen he nothing doubteth but intercession maye profitably be made to them and that also for the deceased Wherevnto Fulke sayth agayne Augustine in hys booke De cura pro mortuis agenda is full of doubtes that he knoweth not hym selfe what to determine but that he wyll holde the common opinions receaued in his time And
Patriarkes Pur. 363. Againe Those Doctors that would seeke confirmation of prayer and oblation for the dead in the Scriptures as Chrysostome and such like doe manifestly wrest them to their purpose I doe here no more but note that he chargeth them whom he confesseth to haue bene of the true Churche euen so as he chargeth vs But what Scriptures and how substantially they alleaged I must reserue to * See ca. 13. an other place As that also which * See cap. 9. pag. he grateth vpon so often out of Tertullian as if he should confesse that prayer and oblation for the deade is not taken at all out of the Scriptures Whereas in déede he doth not so say but onely of the solemne times of such oblation in such manner as I alleaged a litle before out of S. Augustine concerning fasting and fasting dayes The offring anima die vpon the yeares myndday for the dead and the solemne memorie of them in the Canon of the Masse these thinges Tertullian and others ascribe to the Apostles traditions and not to precept of the Scripture And now for making it such a tradition what saith Fulke againe of them Pur. 39◠Thinke you that prayers for the dead came from the Apostles because Tertullian saith so And a litle after If Tertullian had no ground of his saying when he affirmed that oblations for the dead came from the Apostles what ground can Augustine haue which was 200. yeres further from the Apostles time then he And againe Where Chrysostome saith Pur. 303. It was agreed by the Apostles that in the celebration of the holy mysteries a remembrance should be made of them that be departed for they right well knew great profite to arise thervpon vnto them he must pardon vs of crediting him It is no maruell now after this to sée him fayne to denie the See cap. 13. most certaine works of the Apostles Scholars Clemens Romanus Dionysius Areopagita witnessing the same tradition and to say that we haue them but of some counterfayting knaue that could not otherwise mainteine his heresie to be olde Pur. 268. The modestie of the man tovvardes the old vvriters but by falsifying and counterfayting anew that which neuer was in the olde writers heades Finally vnlesse he make the like counterfaiting knaue of S. Chrysostome also he may sée by this testimonie of his that he had no cause for this poynt to charge him or any other after him with suche a chaunge of the olde Liturgies as he doth in many places saying But be it that Chrysostome Basil did write these Liturgies Pur. 356. Itē 360.371 the oldest Fathers that can be giuen them I would know what Liturgies they had in those Churches before Chrysostome and Basil deuised those formes that are said to be theirs If you would in déede know it and namely for this poynt about the dead Chrysostome him selfe as also Augustine Epiphanius Tertullian and others alleaged by D. Allen hath tolde you that it was all one and the same afore and after It followeth in him And whye Chrysostome Basill Gregorie or any other that prescribed newe formes of seruice were not content with the old formes that were vsed in their Churches before their dayes * See his boldnes vndoubtedly because they were too simple for their curiositie too sincere for their superstition sauouring of the auncient truth not fauouring their lately receiued errors And a litle after The authors of these Liturgies thought to confirme it by publike authoritie whiche was before but a blinde error without a head I shall answere this why of yours in the sixt Chapter where I must answere for these Fathers iiij He contrariwise feareth not nor basheth not to say they had it from the diuel and his limmes Now let vs come to the fourth and last article to sée him so farre confronting those Fathers which haue thus fathered this matter vpon the Apostles partly their writings partly their tradition that he cleane contrarie fathereth it vpon the diuell him selfe sundry lims of his saying boldly that thence the holy Fathers had it Ar. 39. It is certayne saith he that prayer for the dead was first planted by the diuell as were other abuses and because it hath a great pretence of charitie deceyued simple men the sooner Pur. 386. And with more particularitie in an other place First the diuel suggested superstitious deuotion into the Gentiles by peruerse emulation of whom Iudas Machabaeus might be deceyued And his facte gaue occasion to the ignoraunt people of error And their ignoraunce first winked at because it had a shewe of pietie confirmed by custome might at length Pur. 436. for none of the auncient Fathers within foure hundred yeres was wholly of your error be allowed of Augustine and others who neuer weyed the matter by Scriptures but by the common practise And this I thinke saith he is the righte pedigree of prayers for the dead and Purgatorie And in an other place yet more particularly Pur. 416. Pur. 152.266.386.410 I haue promised sayth he and that very often and therefore so muche the more to be noted to proue that the opinion of Purgatorie had the same originall that the moste notable Heresies had He beginneth that paragraph with these wordes Nowe at the length commeth the author of this Heresie by the testimonie of Epiphanius and Augustine whom D. Allen there alleageth that Aerius an Arian was the firste that denied prayers and oblations to profite the dead Vnto that Fulke goeth about there to aunswere to quitte Aerius and to counteraccuse those Fathers and their felowes Well then Purgatorie sayth he had the same originall that the moste notable Heresies had And what was that Heresie was receyued from the diuell by Philosophers and Gentiles And howe proue you that Purgatorie was so receyued Mary all Philosophers whiche graunted the Immortalitie of the soule as Phythagoras Empedocles and Plato assigned three places for the soules departed And who else Carpocrates was a great admirer of Philosophie This Heretike learning out of Plato his Philosophie that mens soules must be purified after their death inuented a kinde of Purgatorie out of the opinion of Pythagoras Yet forwarde Origen to muche a Philosopher was not content with Plato his purification but he must bring in Platoes fire also Is this all Afterwarde about S. Augustines time the name of Purgatorie was first inuented by some mediators and conciliators of Origens error with the erroneous practise of the Churche Here loe we haue the thirde place the purification the fire and the name We lacke nowe but the relieuing of the Soules there For that he saith The Heracleonites would redeme their dead after a new maner namely by oyle balme water and Inuocation said ouer their heades in the Hebrew tongue But at one stroke to strike vs starke dead Montanus had in all poyntes the opinion of the Papistes First that the Patriarkes before Christes
doe erre by their authoritie and the authoritie of their Successors after them to this time no greater authoritie in the meane time clearely ruling ouer the case to the contrarie parte but rather the more it is scanned the more continully it appeareth that their part is still to bée followed and the contrarie parte still to be condemned and accursed ¶ The fourth Chapter That he chargeth the saide Primitiue true Church with sundrie errors wherewith he neither doth nor will nor can charge vs. HEre I haue to present him with an other reason why he shoulde graunt vnto vs the true Churche rather then to the olde Fathers for so muche as he will confesse vs to bée frée from diuers errors that he chargeth them withall most of them also being so great and so grosse that none of the errors that he imputeth to vs can be thought comparable by the iudgement of any man that is any whitte indifferent and not altogether blinded with an huge beame of partialitie And let the Reader lay this to the last Chapter before and conferre all diligently together That he confesseth I say that there may bée a Companie which erreth not onely some principall members but also the whole bodye of it and which erreth obstinately and moreouer whiche erreth the grossest errors that can bée and them in no small number and yet the same companie maye bée the true Churche and in déede also hath bene the true Churche so that no péece of this nor all this together will serue him him I saye to proue our companie not to bée the true Churche And then afterwarde let it bée considered what better or what other stuffe he hath to proue the same and if he haue any suche eyther better or other then this refuse a Gods name to bée of our Churche and séeke after hym thy saluation where else thou canst finde it Well then to come to those other errors that were as he sayth the Primitiue Churches and are not ours and to beginne at the toppe Ar. 35. D. Allen requireth the Protestantes to declare when the true Church decayed To this I answere saith Fulke First Euen in the Apostles time there arose manye heresies whiche did not a little trouble the Churche Secondlye But immediately after the Apostles time while the Fathers of the Churche were earnestly occupied in resisting of horrible heresies by the crafte of Satan some errors and abuses crepte into the true Churche of Christ which at the first because they were small and men occupyed in greater matters were eyther not espyed or not regarded And howe declareth he this Iustinus Martyr was in this error that the Angells lusted after women and therefore were turned into diuells What more Irenaeus affirmeth that our Sauiour Christ lyued here .50 yeares And what more Also both he and Papias the Disciple of S. Iohn helde this error that Christ shoulde raigne a thousande yeares after the Resurrection here in fleshe And what of all this Whereby it is manifest seeyng these auncient Fathers and pillers of the Church were thus stained with errors that the Church in their time could not be free from the same Againe It seemeth also that the Churche in Iustinus his time was in some error about Second mariages and diuorcementes After all whiche he concludeth in the end And so it is euident that the true Church decayed immediatly after the Apostles time Where the diligent Reader marketh that he vseth decaying and erring indifferently one for the other As for that which he sayeth there of abuses and corruptions entered into the Church of Christ as a preparatiue to the Religion of the Papistes it belonged to the last Chapter and therefore I noted it there Supra pag. And so much of the Apostles time and also of the time immediatly after the Apostles Let vs procéede and come downe lower Cyprians time was such a time saith he as Cyprian and all the Byshops of Africa decreed in Councell Pur. 287. that those which were Baptized by heretikes shoulde be Baptized againe And therefore it was no such time but that he and all his fellowes might and did erre in some opinions contrarie to the trueth of Gods worde And lower agayne Vnder the Emperours Ar. 15. Constantius Constans and Valence the true Churche was greatly infected with the heresie of Arius what time also Liberius Byshop of Rome was infected with the same heresie Straight after that time did Sainct Hierome florishe whom amongest others in the seconde Chapter he confessed to bée a member of the true Churche And him he chargeth not onely Supra pag. as I alleaged in the last Chapter that he was almost fallen into the heresie of Tertullian in condemning Second mariages Pur. 419. Ar. 46. But also thus in an other place Consider what perilous assertions these be that the Lambe is euery where and that the Martyrs are euerye where this is to destroye the humanitie of Christ and to geue diuinitie vnto the Martyrs I doubte not but Sainct Ieronym if he had quietly considered these absurdities He lacked but such a monitor woulde haue reuoked them as erroneous and hereticall but whyle he rather followed affection then iudgement you may see howe he was deceaued At the same time was the thirde Councell of Carthage and Sainct Augustine one of the Byshops thereof Ar. 89. It he chargeth thus The Councell of Carthage the third Cap. 23. determined that all prayers at the Altar should be directed onely to the Father and not to the Sonne or the holy Ghost Whether this be an error to define That it is vnlawfull to pray to God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost let euery man iudge And to put more weight to this his accusation he addeth But you will except that this was a prouinciall Synode and not a Generall Councell But I answere you it hath the authoritie of a generall Councell because it was confirmed in the sixte generall Councell holden at Constantinople in Trullo But of all others most insolently he insulteth and triumpheth against the auncient Church for ministring the blessed Sacramēt to Infants Ar. 87. I will proue vnto you saith he that the Church of Rome hath falsly interpreted diuers sentences of Scripture and therfore by that which she hath done it can not be doubted but that she may do it One then for example S. Augustine was in this error that he thought Infants must receiue the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ vnder payne of damnation and was deceiued by false interpretation of this Scripture Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man drinke his bloud c. Ioh. 6. This error and false interpretation he affimeth to be common to all the Westerne Church and to Pope Innocent him selfe Contra duas Epist Pelag. ad Bonifacium li. 2. cap. 4. contra Iulianum li. 1. cap. 2. Againe in an other place where D. Allen admonished his Reader saying Pose M.
And the same answere take you to that you obiect to vs in like sort againe in one of the places aboue noted saying Of the Colliridianes you learned to make Images of the virgin Mary and worship them and her with offering of candles c. as they did of cakes c. Epiph. li. 3. Haer. 79. These Collyridianes heresie was this that certayne women at a certaine solemne time of the yere certaine dayes together did decke a square table and vpon it Offerebant panem c. They did offer a cake in the name of Mary as if Mary were eyther a God or a Priest and women her ministers to sacrifice for her So saith Epiphanius confuting thē at large and shewing that women could neuer sacrifice and that none but one is to be adored as God though our Lady be moste honorable Sit in honore Maria Pater filius Spiritus sanctus adoretur Reuera sanctum erat corpus Mariae non tamen Deus My purpose is here but to answere else if any man desire testimonies for our Images for our vse aboue them he may reade D. Saunders booke and many other of that matter It is inough for me here that Fulke him selfe hath acknowledged Supra ca. 3. pag. Tertullian to hearse it as a thing then vndoubted that our crossing of our selues which is a making of Imagesa nd a great religion to the same commeth vnto vs from the Apostles by tradition And because we are thus come from Images to the Sainctes let vs heare what more you haue against the Fathers and vs in that behalfe ij Of Inuocation of Sainctes and worshipping of their Reliques You remember since the thirde Chapter that by your owne report the true Church counted Vigilantius an heretike for denying the Inuocation of Saintes and the worshipping of their Reliques of which and of their Images againe Supra pag the case is all one But now you will proue that the Churches opinion rather was heresie for thus you say to vs for that matter Ar. 21. Of the Ossenes you receiued the superstition of Reliques for they vsed to take the spittle and other filth from the bodyes of Marthys and Marthana which were of the seede of Elxai that is In peregrinatione religion ergo great Sainctes with them and vsed them to cure diseases as Erasmus witnesseth at Caunterbury were kept the clowtes that Thomas Becket did occupie to wipe of his sweat to blow his nose on which were kissed as holy Reliques and thought also to be holsome for sicke folkes Epiph. li. 1. Tom. 1. Haer. 19. This againe maketh as much against our Reliques as the Valentinians Crosse against our Crosses and the Carpocratians Images against our Images Epiphanius telleth that this Elxai was in Traianus time a great master of that sect and that Marthys his kinswoman and Marthana his sister In the Ossenes countrey were adored in their life time as Gods Pro dijs adorabantur c. Because they were of the said Elxai his stocke quarum etiam sputa c. which womens spittle also and other filthes of their bodies the foresaide heretikes in that countrey tooke to them in auxilium videlicet morborum as to cure diseases nihil tamen efficiebant but yet without any effect at all As for Erasmus he knoweth nowe if he did not afore what it is to haue Religion in dirision and you may remember from whose body were caried to the sicke Sudaria vel Semicinctia Act. 19. and their diseases and euill sprites went awaye therewith Open your mouth also against those Napkins and call them likewise Clowtes for sweat and for the nose Or rather doe you applie them with good counsaile to your disease also Chris To. ◠De vita Bab contra Gentiles as S. Chrysostome applieth them and the Reliques of the Martyr Babylas together vnto the Paganes declaring thereby most excellently that Christ must néedes be God séeing he coulde geue such passing power to the clothes and bones of his seruaunt Ar. 22. You say moreouer to vs Of the Cayanes you learned to call vpon Angels Epiph. li. 1. To. 3. haere 38. Those heretikes worshipped Cain Iudas such like litle estéemed Abel such others yea and some of them also Christ him selfe They said also that none could be saued vntill they had gone through all sinnes And therfore committed all abhominations referred them to this Angel that Angel with this inuocation O tu Angele vtor tuo opere O tu potestas ago tuā actionem O thou such an Angell I worke now thy worke O thou such a power I now do thy actiō And this with them was called perfecta cognitio Epip Haer. 26. 21. 27. euen doctorship it selfe They agréed in this with the Simoniani Gnostici and Carpocratite who in their beastlines directed the like most horrible inuocations to God him selfe whom they termed Patrem vniuersorum Which is as substantiall an argument against all inuocation of God as the other is against the inuocation of Angells Simon Magus was you know in the Apostles time He inuented many heauens and many names of Angells placing these in this heauen and those in that heauen with sundrie sacrifices for men to offer by them that they might so bée brought at length to the Father of all And that none might otherwise be saued Epip Haer. 21. except he learned hunc mysticum ductum this mysticall passage and howe to offer suche Sacrifices by those Angels to the Father of all Against these fables it is that S. Paule instructeth the Ephesians and Colossians in those two Epistles so like in wordes also Colos 2. that no man deceyue them with those inuocations of Angelles Religion non tenens caput not holding the heade Iesus Christ But otherwise holding hym for the heade that wée are brought to the Father by the holye Angells as by Christes ministers Hebr. 1. who séeth not in the Scriptures in infinite places And so doth the Churche make all her petitions all through Christ our Lorde Per Christum dominum nostrum to none shée commendeth her otherwyse neyther in heauen nor in earth so doe we all praye and desyre to be prayed for one of another Apoc. 1. Apo. 4. v. 5 5. ver 6. with Heb. 1 ver 14. Apo. 1. ver 16.20 Heb. 3. ver 1. Apo. 19.22 Apoc. 3. and so prayed S. Iohn saying Grace and peace to you from God the Trinitie and from the seuen Spirites that are before his throne and from Iesus Christ according to his humanitie putting Christ in the last place that he myght so more hansomely adde the rest which he had to saye there of him And this in that verye booke out of which the Protestantes abuse two places against the worshipping of Angells forgetting also where in the same booke God doth promyse to make the obstinate Iewes to come and to adore before the feete of one Angell Et
falshood vpon it We néede not to defend in Councells any more but their definitions therfore if they define that this text hath this sense as the Councell of Trent hath done in some we defend it accordingly Otherwise neither the Councell taketh vpō it to hit alwayes the very sense of the text And yet notwithstanding by S. Augustine à maiori in the places aboue noted I aduise all men not to be saucie with Councels no nor with particular Doctors lightly iudging them and saying that they misse the right sense least their saucines haue one day sowre sauce And specially you Sir if you make not amendes in time looke you to drinke of your Master Caluins Cuppe Calu. Insti li. 1. ca. 11. whose malitious steppes you here blindly followe neglecting to looke before you leaped For I must tell you yet further that the Councell for all your saying doth not so interpret those textes But only the litle Emperour Constantinus his mother Irene in their Epistle to the Synode doe exhort the fathers being then gathered to declare their Synodicall iudgement Actione 1. as other Synodes before them had done so to geue forth the world their light and the light of the Holy ghost For as much as no man lighting a Candle putteth it vnder a bushel according to our Lordes saying but vpon a Candlesticke that it may geue light to all that are in the house Is not this application most apt to that text and euen to the intention of our Lord when he spoke it Likewise it is not the Councell but the Pope Adrianus which in his Epistle to the forsaid Emperours saith Acti◠Yea also our Maker worker God our Lord after his owne Image and likenes did shape man of the clay and did lighten him setting him in free power of him self Not citing it to cōclude that therfore we must haue Images in the Church but to answere Nugas the triflyng obiection of the Heretikes who pretended the making of an Image to be against the article of one God Not so saith the Pope Nequaquam autem sic statuamus Let vs not bee so perswaded For all that we exhibite in desideriū dei Sanctorūque eius perficitur is in fine a great list to God to his Sainctes For as he there citeth the saying of Stephanus Episcopus Bostrorum If Adam had bene an Image of the diuels that is to saye of false or other Gods vndoubtedly he had bene to be reiected and vnworthy to be receiued But seeing that he is the Image of God he is to be honored and worthy to be admitted For euen so euery Image is holy that is made in the name of God be it an Image of the Angels or of the Prophetes or of the Apostles or of the Martyrs or of other iust persons Reply now vpon this answere if it be so vnapt and prosecute the former trifling obiection Neither againe is it the Councell which citeth that verse of the Psalme of hearing seing but a Deacon called Epiphanius Actio◠tom 1. readeth to the Councell a confutation that he him selfe as it séemeth made for Images against the booke of the Image breakers Synode and therein hauing shewed that the tradition of the Church alwaies vsed to paint Christes life as well as to reade the Gospell of it he descanteth by and by thereon both out of true Philosophie how that reading by the eare and painting by the eie ingender in the minde Vnam cognitionem qua ad recordationem rerū gestarum peruenitur One knowing wherby to come in remēbrance of the actes them selues also out of diuine scripture a Can◠where the bride desireth to see the face of her bridegrome not only to heare his voice where also we sing out of the b Psa◠Psalme As we haue heard so also haue we seen To this purpose he citeth those texts not to shew how God must be knowē as you pretēd but About the storie of Christes Manhood and mercifull actes therof neither to proue immediatly that the said storie must be painted but to declare that whereas it must be remembred the Church therfore hath done conueniently alwayes both to reade it and to paint it because both these together tend to one remembrance What is here for Momus to carpe or cauill at Let vs sée what more he hath of this sort for false interpretation of Scripture Beside these I will bring you saith he a sentence of holy Scripture not onely falsely interpreted in sence but also falsified in wordes and concerning not a small matter but euen one of the chiefe articles of our faith This ensample shall be a knocker I trow and without all redemption manifestly against some article of faith Let vs heare it then It is written in the .10 Chapter of the Gospell after S. Iohn the .29 verse My father which gaue them vnto me speaking of his sheepe is greater then all Cap. 2. This sentence hath the Councell of Laterane holden vnder Pope Innocent the third where were present 70. Metropolitanes 400. Bishops 12. Abbates and 800. Priors conuentualles in all .1300 Prelates falsified in wordes after this maner Pater quod dedit mihi maius est omnibus that is That which the father hath geuen me is greater then all This sentence they alleage to proue that God the father begetting his Sonne from euerlasting gaue his owne substance vnto him Why is that to proue a falsehood or the trueth your selfe séeme to haue confessed or no doubt you will confesse that it is to proue the trueth And yet what a doe you make about it for you say againe Goe your wayes now and perswade vs that your Church can not interprete any sentence of the Scripture falsely when the Laterane Councell which is your represented Church hath thus both falsified and falsely interpreted this Scripture And againe Perswade men that they may safely leane to the interpretation of your Churche when among a thousand and three hundred Prelates gathered Canonically in a Councell not one was founde that could espie such grosse abusing of the worde of God but let it passe in a Canon vnder the name of the whole Councell And yet once againe Perswade men that in all controuersies condemning of errors they must be reuealed by the determination of your Church when the Fathers of the Laterane Councell can not confute the error of Ioachim Abbot concerning the diuinitie of Christ but by falsifying and false interpreting of Scripture By this we may I thinke easily perswade the Reader that if you had in déede any matter against our Church you would both let vs heare it and also neuer haue done with it Why man here is no false determination any way nor no false interpretation in D. Allens sense and therfore also here is nothing to the purpose Yea I adde moreouer here is no false interpretation also in your owne sense that is to say no vnapt interpretation as
doctrine against your receiued errors were accounted of the world so he tearmeth them whom he him selfe confesseth to haue bene the true Church for heretikes But you muste proue that their opinions are contrarie to the worde of God or else all your labour is in vayne Supra pag. 10. And for example more store the Reader may sée here in the third Chapter I will not dissemble saith he Aërius taught that prayer for the dead was vnprofitable as witnesseth both Epiphanius and Augustinus which they account for an error But neither of them both reproueth it by the Scripture Pur. 416. And the same againe in another place Nowe at the length commeth the author of this heresie by the testimonie of Epiphanius and Augustine But neither of them confuteth it by the Scriptures Pur. 426. And in an other place thus boldly For our parte it is sufficient that we knowe God in his holy word to be the first founder of our doctrine and therfore that they lye blasphemously which would make any heretike the author of it And therevpon he concludeth forsooth with great honestie saying Wherfore Ar. 44. if Aërius had not bene an Arrian this opinion could not haue made him an heretike Where to passe that blasphemie only this I say August ad quoduu in praef in epilogo that he séemeth not to know the purpose of S. Augustine in that booke De haeresibus ad quoduultdeum whiche he saith was likewise the purpose of Epiphanius not to coÌ„fute but only to report the heresies that had bene before his time and that not without great profite to the Reader Cum scire sufficiat c. because it is inough onely to know that the Catholike Churches iudgement is against these and that no man must receiue into his beliefe any one of these And agayne Multum adiuuat cor fidele c. It greatly helpeth the faithfull heart onely to know what must not be beleeued although he bee not able to confute it by disputing Loe then you faithfull heartes the case is so cleare Note â— seeke thâ— this conâ— of Fulkeâ— that the very aduersarie confesseth both that the same was the true Catholike Churche and also that it iudged Aerius to be an heretike helpe your selues therefore and make your profite of this confession assuring your selues vpon the Catholike Doctors lesson that séeing the Church was against Aerius the scripture could not be with him because one Spirit of truth speaketh both in the Church and in the Scripture As for Fulke and all that he here saith you sée it is no other then if Aerius Iouinianus or Vigilantius had said vnto you Aske my fellow whether I be a théefe Naught else it is that he there againe concludeth for those thrée heresiarkes saying Thus Ar 4â— you are not able to name any which preached any article of our doctrine but the same was consonant to the Scripture Of the same sort also in an other place Therefore M. Allen or Pur. 3â— S. Augustine rather if you will teach your Schollers to keepe vs at the baye as heretikes you must not teach them to bark and baule nothing but the Church the Church like tinkers curres O vvorâ— stimatioâ— he hath Church but you must instruct them to open cunningly out of the Scriptures how our doctrine is contrarie to the truth and yours agreeable to the same Againe like one that would appoint his enemie not to inuade him with a gunne because he knoweth not how to saue him selfe from the shotte of it but to take some other weapon that of his making in an other place he saith And especially in this controuersie Pur. 12 where either partie chargeth other with heresie howbeit I trow his partie chargeth not so S. Epiphanius S. Augustine though they so charge his Patriarke Aerius it had bene conuenient that the right definition or description of an heretike had bene first set downe that men might thereby haue learned who is iustly to be burdened with that crime For an heretike is he that in the Churche obstinately maintaineth an opinion that is contrarie to the doctrine of God conteined in the holy Scriptures which if any of vs can be proued to doe then let vs not be spared An herâ— a man in Church 〈◊〉 Fulk Fâ— a nobis 〈◊〉 Iohn Infra but condemned for Heretikes In déede if an Heretike be a man in the Churche you are cockesure and not only you and Aerius but Arrius Pelagius all other heretikes that euer were we rather with S. Augustine S. Epiphanius and such others in daunger To this place it belongeth that againe he sayeth Pur. 402. M. Allen giueth a speciall note that wee name not Iouinian or Vigilantius the playne auouchers of our opinions but rather labour to writh with plaine iniurie to the Author some sentence out of Augustine or Ambrose or some other that opened them selues to the world to beléeue the contrarie And thinketh we are ashamed of the other In deede if we depended vpon any mans authoritie or that any man or men were the Authors of our fayth wee should bee iniurious vnto them if we dyd not acknowledge our founders But seeing God him selfe is the Father of that doctrine which we haue receyued by his holy worde we are not ashamed of Vigilantius nor Berengarius when they agree therewith Onely the Canonicall Scriptures are the rule by which we iudge of all men and their writinges of all doctrine and the teachers thereof Pur. 409. Agayne And therefore it is but vayne bragging that you promyse to seeke out other Fathers of our perswasion then the Apostles of Christ by whose holy writinges we neuer refuse to be iudged For the Scripture is the onely high way to the truth with the guidance of Gods spirite And agayne You spend many wordes in vayne Pur. 412. to proâ—e that the first author of an opinion beyng found the opinion is found to be an heresie It shall bee graunted with all fauour but so that no man shall be counted the first author of an opinion that is able to proue his opinion out of the word of God And withall that whosoeuer is not able to proue by the word of God any opinion that he holdeth obstinately though he haue many authors before him yet he is neuerthelesse an Though iâ— be S. Augustine him selfe though he hold the foundation here cap. v. heretike And so much of their first authors founde out by vs as Aerius Iouinianus Vigilantius and such other old heresiarches condemned he confesseth by the true Church of Christ but contrarie he saith to the Scriptures of Christ Now on the other side being vrged by D. Allen to finde in like maner our first Authors or els it will follow the Apostles to be our authors Pur. 391. heare what he saieth therevnto Must we finde out the authors of your heresies nay iustifie them your selues by the word
as before And agayne Neither do we require you to beleeue any one companie of men Ar. 62. more then another but to beleeue the truth before falshood which you must search in the word of truth It was belike for this much other such Apocriphall stuffe that your booke was kept in so long and in the end also faine to come forth without priuiledge Yea he is so peremptorie in his exception Fuâ—e vvil not beleeue the Apostles nor the Angels vvithout Scripture the most absurdly he attributeth to the Apostles themselues without scripture no more then to Iackstraw and consequently with scripture as much to Iackstraw as to the Apostles For thus he saith speaking of D. Allen He speaketh it because he beleeueth it Pur. 24.4 2. Cor. 4. He would faine counterfeit his speach like the Apostle but the ground of his beliefe is not as the Apostles was the word of God but the practise of meÌ„ which though they were neuer so good yet they were suche as might deceiue and be deceiued Againe Pur. 449. Gal. 1. where he abuseth that which S. Paule speaketh to the Galathians of preaching their receiuing of it turneth it as spoken of onely Scripture It vexeth you at the very hart saith he that we require the authoritie of the holy Scriptures to confirme your doctrine hauing a plaine coÌ„maundement out of the word of God that if any man teache otherwise then the word of God alloweth he is to be accursed As though S. Paul there commaunded to accurse him self and al the Apostles the vniuersall Church of Christ if they confirmed not all their doctrine with expresse Scriptures in such maner as you here require No Syr nothing so Onely he accurseth them which should preach contrarie to that he had preached the Galathians had receiued which was as you see traditioÌ„ by mouth in which maner he taught them other Churches all Christian Religion therein as one principall point the Canon of the scriptures both old new if at the leastwise any Bookes of the newe as then were written which could not be many before the Epistle to the Galathians being as by conference of times it may well be proued the first of all S. Paules Epistles And so much of the Churches authoritie in her Iudgements and Practise namely of her diuine Seruice Whervnto I ioyne as the principalles in the authoritie first the Councells and secondly the Popes For to theÌ„ likewise he maketh his exceptioÌ„ Pur. 430. Councels Dem. 27. saying Wherfore if any CouÌ„cell decree according to the Scriptures as the CouÌ„cel of the Apostles did Act. 15. the CouÌ„cel of Nice with diuers other we receiue them with all humilitie as the oracles of God But if any Councell decree contrarie to the authoritie of the Scriptures as many did without all presumption or pride we may iustly reiect them Pur. 194. See Apostolike Dem. 28. Then of the other Yet is not all that Gregorie writ of equall authoritie with the word of God without authoritie whereof we beleeue not an Angel from heauen as I haue often shewed much lesse a Bishop of Rome And not onely against eche Pope seuerally but also against their whole line and entire Succession he excepteth in like maner saying Succession Dem. 43. Aâ— 28. Although we could rehearse in order as many Successions in our Church as the Papistes boast of in theirs yet were that nothing to proue it to be the Church of Christ which must be tried onely by the Scriptures And a little after We require at the Papistes handes that they shew them selues to hold the Church not by Succession of Bishops or rehearsing of their names but onely by the Scriptures For although wee did rehearse innumerable names of Bishops in orderly Succession on our side wee would not require men to beleeue vs but onely because wee proue the doctrine of our Churche by the authoritie of the Scriptures In déede we must acknowledge Fulke vvhat a frankeling that you deale very frankely with vs to renounce so fréely such a goodly euidence because you can not make so much as any shew thereof For otherwise when you haue any collour of any thing at all what mountybanke pedler is so facing so boasting so vaunting as you and your fellowes iiij Against the Fathers Fathers Dem. 26. Now after all this I will open his like excepting against the Fathers both in generall and also expressing diuerse of their names although it hath bene opened in part alreadie by other occasions And touching the first true it is that he often braggeth much of the Fathers which liued in the first a Ar. 39. Pu. 30.177 435.370.371 two hundred or b Pur. 186.247.304.331.357.364.382 one hundred yeares chalenging vs to proue our doctrine out of them and not out of the later Fathers after them euen with as much reason as he commonly chalengeth vs to proue all out of the scriptures vtterly without all ground but méere voluntarily * Fulkes tvvo Onelies the one as the other which ensample therefore is much to be noted But here notwithstanding I shall declare howe he excepteth smothly and simply against all the Fathers against all in general and expresly also saying were they neuer so auncient Wherin how well he agréeth with him selfe I deferre to the eleuenth Chapter And in effect he hath already so done in calling so often afore for Onely Scripture But yet to shew it more manifestly and as it were the very face it selfe thus he saith Pur. 205. Whatsoeuer he was or howe long soeuer it be since he wrote because it hath not authoritie in the word of God I weigh it as the wordes of a man whose credit in diuine matters is nothing without the word of God Againe Pur. 202. When all authoritie out of Gods word faileth you wherby you should proue that the soules departed receiue benefite by the merites of the liuing you flye to the authoritie of men But mans authoritie is to weake to carie away so weightie a matter Away with mens writings shew me but one Scripture to proue it Againe If for these and an hundred suche Pur. 22. you can shew no better warrant then the tearmes of your fathers the practise of your elders or the authoritie of mortall men the curse of God by Esay must nedes be turned ouer vnto you Againe Pur. 58. Your reasons either be manifest wrestings of the holy Scripture or else are buylded vpon the authoritie of mortall men Againe Pur. 386. We neede no shift M. Allen for the authoritie of the Doctors whom we neuer allow for Canonicall Scriptures and therefore we may boldly say Whatsoeuer we find in theÌ„ agreable to the Scriptures he meaneth expressed in the Scriptures we receiue it with their prayse and whatsoeuer is disagreable to the Scriptures we refuse with their leaue Againe Pur. 363. Now touching the credite and
places of the Old Law saying Pur. 455. What law was appoynted touching lamenting for the dead you may reade Leuit. 21. how the Priest was forbidden to lament for any but speciall persons Also Num. 19. Diuerse ordinances concerning the dead yet neuer any sacrifice or prayer for the dead With like reason you might conclude vpon the same places that the dead should not be buried because in these places no mention is made thereof and againe of sundrie other places Leuit. 15. where the people are bidde to keepe them selues warily from diuerse contaminations of them selues by towching certaine persons aliue that therefore in the same places they are forbidden to pray for the saide persons aliue and namely during the cause of such contamination as for a man or woman whose séede or flowers runneth You suppose ignorantly that in those places orders are giuen what shall be done for the dead but it is not so onely it is decréed that whosoeuer entreth the tabernacle or house of him that is there departed shal be contaminate or vncleane after the Mosaicall maner and that the high priest shall not enter to any such at all nor other priests but to certayne What maketh this agaynst doing ought for the soule of the dead in other places and specially in the holy place As when againe you say Pur. 456. When Nadab and Abihu were slayne their father and brethren were forbidden to mourne for them the people were permitted By all which it appeareth that no Sacrifice for the dead was offered As though holy Sacrificing were as vnfit for the Priest as prophane mourning And as though this speciall case were a generall rule whereas Leuit. 21. it is expresly said to the Priestes that they may be contaminated which with you is mourning vpon their brother notwithstanding that for the plague of their two brethren Nadab and Abihu they might not in some maner mourne From the particuler places of the Law I come now with you to the whole Law thus according to your good Logike you conclude negatiuely therevpon Pur. 455. All lawfull sacrifices were prescribed by the Law Sacrifice for the dead was not prescribed by the Law Therfore it was no lawfull Sacrifice A séely argument was made by Grindall which D. Allen there returneth vpon him and in this fourme here rehearsed you go about to better it The answere still is Infra ca. 12. num as it was before by returning it vpon your selfe All lawfull Sacrifices to wit these foure in generall Holocaustum pro peccato hostia oblatio as the Psalmist and the Apostle do gather the summe were prescribed by the Law Sacrifice for the dead is one of those foure to wit pro peccato for sinne Therfore Sacrifice for the dead was prescribed by the law To this you would make a reply and therefore you correct your Maior with an addition and say that not onely all lawfull Sacrifices were prescribed by the law but also with peculiar mentioning and playne rehearsing of all such persons for whom Sacrifice was to be offered both men women the princes and the priuate persons the priest and the whole congregation yea and speciall regard of the oblations of the poore as may be seene Leuit 4.5.12.15 But because all these persons are founde in the dead as well as in the liuing your addition reacheth yet farther saying And in the peculiar rehearsing of diuers kind of persons and the fourme of the Sacrifice named according to euery particular state it is so farre off that the dead shall be reckned that such things are enioyned euery of these particular persons to do as it is playne that none but the liuing could offer or haue Sacrifice offered for them And in confidence of this addition Iesu how you befoole D. Allen And yet it conteineth this grosse absurditie which you saw not that none could offer or haue Sacrifice offered for them but onely such as were both liuing and also present in the place yea also able to do by thē selues those things enioyned and moreouer that none might offer for their friendes or for any other but for them selues only And what place is then left for offering for their children for the sicke at home for their brethren in other countreys captiue or pilgrimes for the kings and cities of the world vncircumcised for diuers other sortes for which there was offering as partly in other places is expressed partly may easily be proued And therefore all this adoe concludeth nothing against Sacrifice for the dead although it coulde not be proued much lesse considering that it is in an other place so playnly expressed For the fact of Iudas Machabeus putteth all out of doubt say we though you say that he therein transgressed the law But your proofe thereof is yet to be made vnlesse this proue it that you say It is like that Iudas Machabeus Pur. 456. if he deuised not that Sacrifice of his owne head yet tooke by imitation of the Gentiles whose studies and practises the Author of that Storie confesseth were more frequented in those dayes among the Iewes then the preaching or keeping of the Law Why syr doth the Storie say that Iudas Macabeus was one of those gentilicall Iewes or that he ioyned with those Apostaticall priestes Yea doth it not plainely say that all his fighting was against the gentiles and against gentilizing and that he made his reformation by no Priestes but such as were Vnspotted in the law But of your ignorance in that Storie if no worse I must speake more in another place Infra ca. 12. Now to ende this part Let vs heare how you conclude of the whole Scripture Pur. 449. As it is no good Logike you say to conclude negatiuely of one place or booke of Scripture this is not conteined in it therefore it is not true as you haue hithervnto concluded So of the whole the argument is most inuincible that concludeth negatiuely thus All true doctrine is taught in the Scripture Purgatory is not taught in the Scripture therefore Purgatory is no true doctrine O inuincible argument The Maior is false and to all your textes for it I haue answered aboue Ca. isto p. 1 The Minor likewise is false for Purgatory is taught in the Machabees which is in the Canon of the true Church which you also confesse to be the true Church you knowe the (a) Infra pag. third Councell of Carthage and therefore it is Canonicall if any other Scripture be Canonicall It is taught likewise 1. Iohn 5. so playnely that you could not auoyde the place but by falling into this horrible absurditie That we may not pray for all men liuing as anone I shall report your wordes It is also taught specially agaynst you Syr Ioan. 11. for you say after your maner passing confidently Pur. 236. that Martha and Mary as the Scripture is manifest did not hope for any restitution of their brother Lazarus to his
Apoc. 3. And if you yet doubt by what they ouercome whether by the Lambes bloud alone or also by theyr owne patient confession or affliction vnto death it is written there agayne And they ouercame the diuell by the bloud of the Lambe and by their owne martirdome dia â—on logoâ—â—es martyriâ—s auâ—on and loued not their life euen vnto death Apoc. 12. And S. Paule accordingly calleth it 2. Cor. 4. the mortification of Iesus when the Apostles were mortified for Iesus and saith they carried the same about continually in their bodies that also the life of Iesus might be manifested in their selfe same bodies at the latter day which is the same thing that the Apocalipse calleth to appeare before the throne in white stoles Wherby you sée that as the bloud of Christ so by it martyrdome also worketh such glory For so it foloweth there again This our affliction although it is but short and light operatur worketh vs euerlasting weight of glory exceding measure aboue measure Because affliction here for Iesus doth so wash our stoles or bodies therefore it procureth that they shal be so glorious in the Resurrection this say these Scriptures And so much of the foundations and by occasion of them Now to Purgatorie it selfe and prayer for the dead Secondly directly of Purgatorie it selfe and praier for the dead whether all the elect goe straight to Heauen Afore Christes comming Limbus patrum Directly against Purgatory prayer for the dead you shoote diuers arrowes or rather cockshotles so deadly are the woundes that your shot doth make First you will proue by many and euident Scriptures that all the Elect do go yea and alwayes from the beginning of the world haue gone straight to heauen therefore neuer no Purgatory neuer no Limbus Patrum Whiche if you can do your skill in the Scripture no doubt farre passeth all the auncient Doctors were they neuer so wel studied therin For they all could not finde so muche as one text that all or any one also went to heauen before Christ yea and not many textes Vide Sander monar li. 7. pag. 518.520 Pur. 57. that any one after him also goeth thither before the generall Resurrection but rather very many textes that vntill the Church within these 300. yeres defined the contrarie made it very probable that none are there till then Well thus you begin That the Fathers of the Old law before Christ were not in hell it is to be proued with manifest argumentes and authorities out of holy Scriptures But first you thinke necessary to answere one text that stoode in your way saying Although they were not nor yet are in perfect blessednesse God prouiding a better thing for vs that they without vs should not be made perfect Heb. 11. By that they of the old Testament wer not made perfect or consummate without vs of the new Testament S. Paule there doth meane euidently that their Soules were not yet admitted into heauen As in that whole Epistle he sheweth that the Old Testament did consummate nothing but contrariwise Heb. 7. Heb. 10. Heb. 9. that it made continually euery yere a commemoration of their sinnes because they remayned still and were not perfectly remitted and therefore that Christe dyed In Redemptionem earum praeuaricationum quae erant sub priore Testamento To buye out the preuarications that were all that while that so at length the heires might attayne the euerlasting inheritance which was promised Heb. 9. Nondum enim propalatam esse Sanctorum viam adhuc priore tabernaculo habente statum For the way into Sancta or heauen was not yet opened vntill the high Priest Iesus entred first thereinto Heb. 10. qui initiauit nobis viam nouam It was he that beganne this newe waye vnto vs who nowe therefore haue fiduciam in introitu Sanctorum Confidence to enter in after him béeing our forerunner into the same Sancta And all this is spoken of our Soules As for our bodies neither yet is the way open vnlesse Sancta were open when onely the High priest entred into them This was the prouidence of God for vs that we should not thinke we come to late if the Fathers soules had beene admitted in before vs. Confer the end of your owne text with the beginning of it Heb. 11. vt non consummarentur and non acceperunt repromissionem Sée how plainly he expoundeth their not consummating to be their not attayning of the promise And what promise Heb. 9. Confer this other place vt repromissioneÌ„ accipiant aeternae haereditatis That the heires might attayne the promise of euerlasting inheritance I might at large declare the same by the whole course of Scripture as D. Allen saith very well but that I am not here to alleage Pur. 439. but only to answere Well then against these most manifest Scriptures let vs heare the manifest authorities of Scripture which you pretend Pur. 57.58 For you say Seeing they all beleeued in Christ they had euerlasting life and entred not into condemnation but passed from death to life Io. 5. To what life but the life or resurrection of their bodies for vntill the last day all the dead are in death but then some shall come forth into resurrection of life some others into resurrection of damnation but he that beleeueth in me hath that is most certainly shall then haue Iohn 11. life euerlasting and commeth not into damnation but passeth from death wherein he hath so long bene to life This is the playne text of that place As likewise in all the New Testament lightly euery where life after corporall death signifieth the resurrection of the bodies where the soules be in the meane time here is neuer a word no nor of the Saintes of the old Testament afore the institution of Baptisme wherevnto beliefe in him giueth now accesse Ioa. 1. and 3 that belieuing in him they may haue life Io. 20. But their state we must gather out of other places of holy Scripture And to what end againe you say was Christ called the Lamb that was slayne from the beginning of the world but that the benefite of his passion extendeth vnto the godly of all ages alike This is your expounding of Scripture by Scripture you are a true man of your word The place is Apo. 13. Whose names were not written in the booke of life of the Lambes that was slaine froÌ„ the beginning of the world CoÌ„ferring it with this place Apo. 17. Whose names were not written in the booke of life from the beginning of the world you perceiue the error of your coÌ„struction It is not said that the Lambe was slayne from the beginning of the world but that all the reprobate shall adore Antichrist when he commeth as the Gospell also saith Mat. 24. that the Elect also should be then deceiued if it were possible Neuerthelesse that the Lambe was slayne from the beginning of the world is true though not in your fond
them that receiue them You quote for this also 1. Cor. 10. but you haue no such thing there And touching your argument it holdeth aswell against the working of Christes passion For how should that worke of his geue grace if faith be requisite in vs Is not this a witty demaund trowe you I haue aboue alleaged manifest Scripture Cap. eodē pag. that Christ washeth vs both by his bloud and also by baptisme Those are the instrumentes which his mercy Tit. 3. vseth in this worke As for our faith all other actions they are not instrumentes they are not workers they are onely dispositions though necessarie dispositions as the drines of the wood is a disposition but it is the fire that worketh True it is and the Scripture saith it that by beléeuing and by other good actions we worke our owne saluation Philip. 2. as by way of meriting but it saith not that we worke the effect of any Sacrament as our regeneration when we are baptized our Corroboration whē we are confirmed our cibation when we are housled though our faith and other vertues be necessary therein that by our indisposition we do not put obicem Christes passion as it did both merite and worke all so to our déedes it giueth vertue to merite to the Sacraments it geueth vertue to worke Thus the Scripture teacheth and thus the Catholike Church beléeueth what soeuer you meane by your Church Pur. 241. when being told by D. Allen that the bloud of Christ maketh mens works meritorious you tell him agayne that the Church of Christ abhorreth that blasphemy By al which is reuealed your manyfold ignorance in that you say Pu. 35.155 The meane on Gods behalfe by which we are made partakers of the fruites of Christes passion and so grafted into his body is his holy spirit of promise which is the earnest and assurance of our inheritance who worketh in vs faith as the onely meane by which the righteousnes of Christ is applyed vnto vs. Ephe. 1. And as for the Sacramentes which you seeme to make the onely condites of Gods mercy we are taught in the holy Scriptures that they are the Seales of Gods promises giuen for the confirmation of our faith as was Circumcision to Abraham when he was iustified before through faith Rom. 4. Here are diuers poyntes of Caluinisme boldly affirmed two places of Scripture quoted for them but how falsely and fondly I shall easily declare S. Paule Rom. 4. declareth that it was a seale or cōfirmation on Gods part that also the vncircūcised shall be iustified by faith because with Abraham béeing so iustified Gen. 15. he entred afterwarde Gen. 17. such a bargayne As we may likewise say Mat. 16. that it was a Seale that we are blessed by cōfessing Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God because S. Peter being for the same confession blessed had also the keyes of heauen geuen him in reward And as this would serue vs well if they which haue the keies after Peter should say that none are blessed but they so the other serued well when they which were Circumcised in flesh after Abraham did say that none were iustified but they Is this to say that all men are iustified before they come to the Sacramentes and that all Sacramentes be Seales of such a matter yea or so much as that all Iewes were iustified before they came to Circumcision and that Circumcision it selfe was to them a Seale of such a matter This is your euident Scripture this is your necessary concluding vpon it Goodly geare forsooth that for it we must leaue the Catholike Church and her guyde the holy Ghost and go to schole to Caluine Other poyntes of your ignorance are about the Holy spirite of promise You saye it is the meane to make vs partakers of the frutes of Christes passion Item the meane to graffe vs into his body Item that it worketh in vs faith By all which you declare that you know not what the Spirite of promise is and that you are no conferrer of Scriptures together how muche soeuer you bragge thereof Varietie of matter bréedeth prolixitie against my wil though of euery one I say neuer so litle which I beséech the gentle Reader to consider Otherwise in this matter I might lay together so many Scriptures as would fill the most gréedy that is Briefly Christ the day he ascēded as often afore both he The Spirite of promise Sac. of Confirmation and S. Iohn Baptist and the Prophetes namely Ioel said And I sende the promise of my Father vpon you Luc. 24. And he commaunded them not to returne home into Galilée but to exspect in Ierusalem his fathers promise which you haue hard quoth he of my mouth for Iohn baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the holy Ghost not many dayes hence to wit the tenth day off béeing Whitsonday They had faith afore and they were baptized afore and therefore graffed into his body afore though not fully baptized not fully graffed and yet they were to receiue this spirite this promise as being not the meane c. but the very greatest fruite of Christes passion the complement of baptisme the full ingraffing into his body which is his church yea the very inheritance it selfe For the inheritance is the Fathers promise Rom. 4. and so in Genesis and in all the Olde Testament And this spirite is as you heare the Fathers promise called therefore of S. Paule the earnest of our inheritance because it is the full first fruites thereof And therefore so farre as the Gospell goeth so farre alwayes goeth this spirite together with it to the Iewes Act. 2. to the Samaritanes Act. 8. to the Gentiles Act. 10. As to this day in the Catholike Church where the same Gospell continueth it is still giuen to all the baptized by imposition of the Bishoppes handes Marke it well it quite ouerthroweth your new inuented Gospell wherein after faith and after baptisme you giue not this spirite euen also your owne place to the Ephesians Cap. 1. condemneth you for there it is said to the Ephesians that first they heard the word of trueth the Gospell of their saluation then that they beleeued in Christ and then after beleeuing you were sealed with the holy spirite of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance If this be not playne ynough conferre Acts. 19. where the very storie of it is reported concerning twelue Ephesians who were baptized with Iohns Baptisme afore S. Paule came vnto them and then were taught by S. Paule that they must beleeue in Iesus Which when they heard they were baptized by some minister of S. Paules in the name of our Lord Iesus Et cum imposuisset c. And after that Paule him selfe laying his hands ouer them the holy spirite came vpon them By this litle the Reader may iudge who findeth out in déede the meaning of Scripture by plaine conference of other Scriptures who
the Doâ—stes is Vbi sit ecclesia where the Church is whether with vs or with them What shall we do then shall we seeke her in verbis nostris in our owne wordes or in the wordes of her head our Lorde Iesus Christ I thinke we ought rather to seeke her in his wordes who is trueth and beste knoweth his owne body Where by our owne wordes you vnderstande all besides Onely Scripture But S. Augustine doth not so quicquid nobis inuicem obricimus verba nostra sunt Our wordes are whatsoeuer we obiect one to another of deliuering the diuine bookes in Dioclesians time of burning frankinsence to the Idols of persecuting As all your declayming also at this time against vs is for certayne crimes of certayne men We hauing the like yea and them more haynous and that more truely to charge you withall But these words S. Augustine will and we with him to be silent when the Church is sought and the words of Christ in the Scripture to sound Againe you alleage him Epist 48. ad Vincentium RogatistaÌ„ where he â—aith We are sure that no man could iustly separat him selfe as Luther did a communione omnium gentium from the communion of all nations because none of vs seeketh the Churche in his owne righteousnesse but in the holy Scriptures Wherevnto you adde your fiue â—gges saying So if the Papistes would not presume of their owne righteousnesse but seeke â—he Churche of Christe in the Scriptures they would not sepaâ—ate them selues from the communion of Christes Church now â—y Gods grace inlarged further then the Popish Church There 〈◊〉 no crooked gambrell bow that casteth so wide as you do the â—octors wordes these specially from their scope I maruell â—uche at you for it and muche more if you sawe the place By 〈◊〉 Communion of all Nations so often agaynst the Donaâ—es Saint Augustine meaneth the Societie of that visible â—urch which as it beganne visibly at Hierusalem so visibly grewe on afterwardes and groweth on to this day and to the worldes ende ouer all nations From whiche Societie or Companie Epist 48. fieri non potest it is impossible saith he that any can haue iuste cause to separate their companie Because the Donatistes saide that Cecilianus the Catholike Bishop of Carthage had yéelded in Dioclesians persecution and that all the other Catholikes by communicating with him after that whereas they should haue excommunicated him for euer were also defiled thereby and therefore that them selues who had not yéelded did well to separate them selues from the Catholikes as the iust from the vniust Therevpon Saint Augustine saith notably Iust separation impossible If any may haue a iust cause to separate their companie from the companie of all Nations and to call that Ecclesiam Christi the Church of Christ Vnde scitis How know you in all Christendome beeing so wide and side lest perhaps before you did separate your selues some did afore separate them selues for some iust cause in some so farre countreys that the bruite of their iustice is not come to you How can the Church béeing but one be in you rather then in them who before perhaps haue separated them selues Ita fit c. So it remayneth that seeing you know not this same you be vncertayne of your selues Which likewise must needes happen to all others who vse for their Societie the testimonie not of God but of them selues that is of their owne iustice And then a litle after Nos autem ideo certi sumus But we Catholikes are certayne that none can haue iustly separated himself from the companie of all Nations quia non quisque nostram in iustitia sua because any of vs doth not in his owne iustice but in the diuine Scriptures seeke for the Church Et vt promissa est reddi conspicit and seeth it to be represented euen as it was promised to wit from Hierusalem to Rome from the Iewes ouer all nations being mixt both of good and bad and the good not consenting no whit defiled by the companie of the bad And therefore whether any of our Popes any of our other Bishops any of our other fathers any of our Catholike brethren haue bene so yll as the Protestants make them or no sure we are that Luther possibly could not as neither euer any could or can iustly separate him selfe because by the holy most euident Scriptures that only is the true church which beginning at IerusaleÌ„ groweth ouer all Nations in which by the same Scriptures we sée that once the Romanes were and from which the said Romanes did neuer separate theÌ„ selues afterward and with which Romanes Luther first was and afterwardes did Separate himselfe from them and so therfore from the true Church And yet come you like a blinde beetle and say that the Papistes did Separate them selues from your Church bragging as blindely of your inlarging For once hauing made a separation it is no inlarging afterwardes that can winne you the true Church from them that had it afore Of whose largenes yet also aboue your largenes read my 9.31.32.33.47 Demaundes and ioyne with me if you list vpon them Your third parte out of Augustine is more generall to wit about all questions with any Heretikes whatsoeuer thereof you say Ar. 13. that he would haue heresies confuted only by Scriptures For writing against Maximinus the Arian li. 3. ca. 14. a place commonly and often cited he saith Sed nunc nec ego Nicenum c. Of which place your gathering is this If Augustine would not oppresse the Arians by the authoritie of the Nicene Councell which was the first and the best generall Councell that euer was but only by the Scriptures how much lesse would he charge them with other authorities that the Papistes alleage beside the authoritie of holy Scriptures It is for your owne vantage or els you would not so play the proctor for Heretikes S. Augustine would not oppresse the Arians nor would not charge them but onely with Scripture you say But doth he say that he might not for there is the question You know I doubt not how commonly he presseth the Donatistes with the authoritie of the sayd Nicen Councell Aug. con Ep. parm li. 2. ca. 8. De bap coÌ„ Don. l. 1. c. 7 graunting that in S. Cyprians time it was a doubtfull thing whether Heretikes can baptize But nullo iam quaestio est now it is out of all doubt because in that same Councell it had bene discussed considered ended and ratified And euen so in your owne place a litle before hauing proued inuincibly by the Scriptures that the Father the Sonne are vnius eiusdemue substaÌ„tiae of one and the same substance he sayth immediatly This is that Homousion which against the Arrian heretikes was in the Nicene Councell ratified of the Catholike fathers veritatis authoritate authoritatis veritate not onely by authoritie of truth as your selfe do graunt but also by truth of authoritie
all men know that those also of your owne side in Fraunce Flaunders c. in their publike Edictes call vs Catholikes and them selues by other names Now supposing that it is our name yet you haue a shift saying Ar. 67. that we boast and trust onely in these names Catholike and Church without the thinges them selues as the wicked Iewes did crying The Temple of the Lorde when they had nothing lesse then the Temple of the Lorde Iere. 7. Mat. 21. but rather a denne of theeues Our Lord both in the Prophet and in the Gospell acknowledgeth it to be his Temple although they in it were théeues and wicked persons So is ours his Catholike Church although some of vs were so wicked as you make vs. Howbeit the wicked both then and now trusting onely in the Temple and in the Church and not amending their liues deceiue them selues how much more they that trust in the cōuenticles of Heretikes which are the Synagogues of Satan On the other side supposing that it is not your name you haue also your shift saying Ar. 68. If you haue no greater argument to condemne vs thē that we are not called The Catholike Church then you can no more condemne vs then Christ and his Apostles that were not onely not called the true Church but also were called Heretikes and deceiuers by the Iewes which were as rightly called Gods people as they that giue you the name of Catholike Church are called the Christian world Nay bate me an ace of that I pray you vnlesse you can likewise shew by predictions of the Prophets and correspondence of Luther the reprobation of the Christian world in these dayes as we all sée the reprobation of the people of God the Iewes in those dayes Besides that you haue great reason forsooth to require that the Iewes should haue vsed those names which they neuer heard of or els you not to be tryed now by them after their institution receiuing and vniuersall vsing And yet againe you will néedes haue the name from vs. Ar. 95. For why might not our Church when it was most hidden you say be as rightly called Catholike as the Church of the Apostles when it was so particular that it was conteined in the narrow bondes of Iury For you say it is not called Catholike because it should be euery where for that it neuer was nor neuer shal be But because that wheresoeuer it be in partes it is one body of Christ I reade of many old Heretikes that gaue many interpretations of that name to draw it to them selues but you are the first to my knowledge that said because it is vna therefore it is called Catholica The old fathers in their Créede were of another meaning when they said distinctly I beleue One Holy Catholike and Apostolike that is Romane Church No Sir S. Augustine telleth you another interpretation Aug. de vn Eccl. ca. 2. Ecclesia vtique vna est quam maiores nostri Catholicam nominarunt vt ex ipso nomine ostenderent quia per totum est Secundum totum enim cath olun Grecè dicitur There is no doubt but onely one Church euen that same which our Auncetors named Catholica to declare by the very name it selfe that she is ouer all to wit beginning at Hierusalem and from thence growing ouer all Nations continually till the ende of the world when hauing taken in the fulnesse of Nations she shall be wholly assumpted in glorie And therefore your Church neither when it was hidden as you imagine neither now that it is open as we all sée God hide it againe can be called Catholike Au. Callat 3. diei nu 2. post Collat c. 27.28 Epist 48. because as S. Augustine so often resoneth against the Donatistes you do not communicate with totius Orbis Ecclesia the Church of the whole world but haue seperated your selues from it from the Church I say which beganne in Iurie and groweth on to this day and therefore as well then in the beginning as any time after was the same and had the same name as the trée of musterdséede is the trée of musterdséede whether it be growen litle or mikle Ar. 95. Pur. 14. But what a thing is this that you speake with the spirite of the Donatist and say The Popish Church is not in euery part of the world For Mahomets sect is in the greatest part Many countreys are Idolaters and the most parte of them that professe the name of Christ are not in the felowship of the Popish Church It is iumpe the argument of Cresconius Aug. cōtra Cresc li. 3. ca. 63. Argumentaris quod ideo nobis non totus Orbis communicet c. Thou makest this argument saith S. Augustine that therefore the whole world doth not communicate with vs because as yet either many men there are of the Barbarous Nations which haue not yet beleued in Christ or many Heresies vnder the name of Christ abhorring from the communion of our felowship The full answere therof you may reade ther in S. Augustine Although I alleage almost nothing but onely answere my length groweth tedious to my selfe and I feare to the Reader also not for any substance of your argumentes but for the multitude of your trifles to say the least and best of them As againe wher you say like non plus that Most Papistes will confesse Ar. 69. that many thinges in their Church haue neede of reformation as not being vniuersally perfect and that it is halting in many thinges from the trueth of Gods word neither yet dispersed ouer all the World but conteyned in a corner of Europa and therefore it is not by S. Augustines rule the Catholike Church Is yours then by that rule the Catholike Church As the Iewes care not if none be Christ so that Iesus be not Christ euen so you reason like men that care not if none be the Church so that the Romane be not O miserable People that must haue such Leaders The Church now may vouchsaue to be so spoken of by you when you speake no better here cap. 3. of the same Church also in S. Augustines time But we tell you with the wordes of S. Augustine for we confesse no more then he also doth by you alleaged wher he repeateth the Créede August de Gē ad 〈◊〉 imperfect ca. 1. Constitutam ab illo Matrem Ecclesiam That the Holy Ghost being geuen founded the Church our Mother quae Catholica dicitur her that is called Catholike ex eo quia vniuersaliter perfecta est et in nullo claudicat et per totum orbem diffusa est of this because she is vniuersally perfect and halteth in nothing though the Donatistes and other like Heretikes do neuer so much triumph in that interpretation and is spredde ouer all the World in maner aforesaide Both interpretations agrée to our Mother and we claime them accordingly saith S. Augustine and we whereas the Heretikes
vnproperly because he also saith our bodies by mortification to be made a liuing Sacrifice Rom. 12. To knowe what is properly or vnproperly called this or that you should sée to the natures of the things in them selues And then séeing in Christes death open separation of his body from his bloud and in Consecration mysticall separation of them because the words do worke that which they signifie you should say in both those Christes body to be properly a Sacrifice as I told you likewise before cap. 6. pag. 47. but in perpetuall virginitie and other mortification because there is no such separation of our substantial partes but onely of our affections from vs they be called Sacrifices not properly but onely by a metaphore and similitude Well then what obiections haue you now against this Priesthood and Sacrifice of the Fathers and ours Either that it is none at all or that it is not a Sacrifice in Christes body as S. Augustine said First Out of doubt Pur. 294.295 if the bringing foorth of bread and wine had bene anye thing parteining to the Priesthood of Melchisedech the Apostle Heb. 7. would not haue omitted to haue compared it with Christ But the Apostle comparing Melchisedech with Christe in all thinges in whiche he was comparable neuer teacheth it as any part of his Priesthood If it were no part of his Priesthood what was it then It is playne by the text that Melchisedech beeing both a king and a Priest as a king liberally enterteined Abraham and his armie and as a Priest blessed him The text in our vulgar Latine translation is this Proferens panem vinum erat enim Sacerdos Dei Altissimi In your vulgar English translation this He brought foorth bread wine For he was the Priest of the most highest God And in the Hebrew the poynting declareth that also the Rabbins thēselues take it in the same sort as also the very words do signifie specially standing in such order And all our Fathers do agrée Cyp. ep 63. S. Cyprian shall suffice for all who declareth the order of Melchisedech De sacrificio illo venire to come of that Sacrifice not of euery Sacrifice but of that Sacrifice And more distinctly to descende of these thrée thinges quod Melchisedech Sacerdos Dei summi fuit that he was not a common Priest but the Priest of the highest God as S. Iohn Baptists preeminence among al the Prophets is signified by this word Propheta altissimi the prophet of the highest Luc. 1. quod panē vinū obtulit hauing said afore protulit which two you thinke cannot stand together that he offered not as other Priests but bread and wine Quod Abraham benedixit that he blessed not euery body but Abraham the father of al the faithfull of Christ And in déede who is so blinde not to sée the corresspondence in Christ but you onely that are not Abrahams children We Catholikes his children in faith and souldiers in confession of the same do sée playnly before our eyes our true Melchisedech as first by him selfe at his last Supper so stil by his ministers to bring forth bread and wine and thereof as our High Priest to offer for vs this most acceptable Sacrifice and as our king of kings who with so few loaues fed many thousands to prepare for vs this most Royal feast which we can neuer inough admire Mat. 14. 15. so singularly by this blessing both God and vs that the sacrifice and feast it selfe is named Benedictio and Eucharistia Blessing and Thankesgiuing Which S. Cyprian doth there prosecute very swéetely saying For who is more the Priest of the highest God then our Lord Iesus Christ who offered Sacrifice to God the Father and offered the same against those Aquarij who offered water in the Chalice and not wine which Melchisedeth had offered that is bread and wine suum corpus sanguinem his owne body perdie and bloud Also that blessing going afore about Abraham ad nostrum populum pertinebat belonged to our people saith he as a Bishop minister of the true Melchisedech To * The end of bringing foorth vvas to blesse as also S. Augustine said aboue the end therefore that in Genesis the blessing about Abraham might by Melchisedech the Priest be duely celebrated there goeth afore an Image of Christes sacrifice an image I say consisting in bread and wine c. Where is now your argumēt ab authoritate Heb. 7. negatiuè with your out of doubt contrarie to your owne Logike here cap. 8. pag. 134. For besides all this I aske you whether Melchisedeth were a Priest without all sacrifice at all If you say yea your Diuinity is contrary to Heb. 8. For euery high Priest is ordeined to offer giftes and sacrifices Note Wherefore it is necessary hunc habere aliquid quod offerat this Priest also to haue somwhat to offer If you say he had some sacrifice tell vs I pray you how he was comparable to Christ in his Priesthood vnlesse he were also in his Sacrifice considering that his Priesthood consisted in his Sacrifice And so you sée that he was comparable to Christ in some thing to wit in his Sacrifice supposing also that it was not the sacrifice of bread wine in which the Apostle compareth them not What a blindnes is this in you not to sée Melchisedech in his bread and wine so expresly mentioned to be comparable vnto Christ whereas by the Apostle also the very omitting of his father and mother and genealogie is in Genesis a shadowing of Christ séeing also bread and wine so notably vsed in the world by the institution of Christ Such is either your ignorance in the Scriptures or also peruersenes against your owne knowledge Your second argument may be where you take on like Caiphas Mat. 26. and say it is a blasphemie Pur. 298.299 c. for the Fathers and vs to say that we haue the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedech confirmed vnto vs by oth Psal 109. For then you saye we must be Christ him selfe with his eternall diuinitie and euerlasting natiuitie and sitting on the right hand Why syr doth not the Scripture likewise say that there is one Baptizer Ioan. 1. Mat. 3. Hic est qui baptisat and he such a one as vpon whom the holy Ghost cōmeth and abideth and to whom the Father saith This is my naturall sonne Must we then be said to blaspheme VVhat a doctor Fulke is and take al that to our selues if we say that we are baptizers You are a great Doctor forsooth so to argue No syr we are baptizers and priests Aug. de ci li. 17. c. 17. but as his ministers we offer Sub Sacerdote Christo quod protulit Melchisedech Vnder Christ the Priest saith S. Augustine and therfore he singulerly is the one baptizer and the one priest So were not all the rest in the time of the olde Testament the ministers of
that the vniuersall Churches authoritie was alwayes counted so irrefragable that she would be and was beléeued vppon her onely word in all matters before she yéelded or we could conceiue the reasons of her doctrine And that S. Augustine wrote a booke vpon this against the Manichées which he called De vtilitate credendi Of the vtilitie of beléeuing first before you vnderstand Aug. retra li. 1. ca. 14. Because his friend Honoratus béeing a Manichée did irride in the discipline of the Catholike faith quod iuberentur homines credere that men were commaunded to beleue and not taught by certentie of the groundes certissima ratione what was true Which to our Doctor Fulke is so strange that of D. Allen saying he taketh it to be the naturall order of a Christian schole Pur. 4.5 he requireth to shew where he learned that methode affirmeth S. Paule Rom. 10. to teach a cōtrary order and calleth it a blind faith which must be thrust vpon mens consciences to be accepted before they see what ground it hath Whereas S. Paule doth not say that men must vnderstand the groundes of euery matter before they beléeue for that were contrary to his owne doing who did not alwayes to all at the first speake wisedome 1. Cor. 2. but that they must heare first the Churches preaching to know which be the articles before they can beléeue them And that is it which we say that hearing what the Church teacheth they may be bold to beleue it forthwith although they heare not or can not attaine to the groundes euen as they which heard Christ him selfe and his Apostles after him might boldly beléeue them As he also did worke those Myracles in the beginning to commend his own authoritie credite and thereby to draw vnto him a multitude which multitude should alwayes after him moue the worlde to beleeue as Myracles did at the first Au. de vtil cred ca. 13. S. Augustine in that booke deduceth this at large and concludeth Rectè igitur Catholicae disciplinae maiestate institutum est vt accedentibus ad Religionem fides persuadeatur ante omnia It is rightly therefore apoynted by the maiestie of the Catholike Churches Schole that they which come to Religion be first and formost moued or perswaded by certayne generall motiues to beleeue Wherefore I say that the Protestantes can not possibly be the Church because they do renounce the claime of suche authoritie I say also that neyther they nor no other secte in the world is so happy sure of their faith as we be hauing a Schoole and Masters that we may boldly beléeue in all thinges because Christ hath geuen them the Spirite of truth Ioan. 14. and to vs also accordingly sayth D. Allen the spirite of obedience But therunto Fulke answereth as more at large here cap. 7. pag. 90. That also the Protestantes wil be ruled by their Superiours What simply Ar. 58. so farre as their Superiours are ruled by Gods word Any other submission they allowe not O humble submission of yours who will ouerrule your Superiours as it were by Gods word and O worthy authoritie of theirs who by your owne cōfession may swarue from the truth of Gods word But howsoeuer the Protestantes are affected to their Superiours the Greeke Church with the Moschouites and Russianes in doubtes wil be ruled by their Patriarche of Constantinople and so will the rest of the Orientall Churches by their chiefe Patriarches Bishops though they be not of our felowship and Catholike communion So you say But if you knewe the storie of the Florentine Councell wherein their Patriarches agréed with the Catholike Latines in all thinges and yet could not for all that reduce their Countries from Schisme you would not so say Ar. 83.84 And as towching your grammaticatiō vpon the article of our Créed I beleeue the H. Catholike Church I haue shewed plainly cap 8. pag. 138 out of antiquitie that the meaning of it is according to this presēt demaund I beleue in the H. Catholike Church And therefore you erre where you say To beleeue all and euery thing that the Catholike Church by commō consent doth maintayne is no article of our faith And is not this a goodly interpretation which you bring We say confesse against all Heretikes and Schismatikes I beleeue that there is a Catholike Church or that God hath an Vniuersall Congregation For what Heretike and Scismatike may not say the same And what Catholike may not also cōfesse that there is a Lutherane Church The meaning of the Créede is as I haue sayd I beléeue that to be the true Church whose name is Catholike as in the Articles afore going I beléeue that Christ which is named Iesus and that God who is the Creator and I beléeue all which the same Church doth bid me to beléeue as being the mouth of the Holy Ghost and by her being the communion or company of the Holy so that none be Holy which do not cōmunicate with her I beléeue that we haue remission of our sinnes in the Sacramentes and shall haue Resurrection of our bodies in glorie and for euer afterwardes in Soule and Bodye together lyfe euerlasting All which is the worke of our Sanctification and appropriated in the Créede to the Holy Ghost as our redemption to the Sonne and Creation to the Father In calling this a foolish and false interpretation you do but vtter your ignorance in the auncient Doctors They are the boyes that you count worthy to haue many stripes for their construing it otherwise then thus I beleeue that there is a Catholike Church Suppose the Apostles had said Credo S. Romanam Ecclesiam how would you haue construed it not I beleue that there is a Romane church for so much you may confesse being yet a Protestant but I beleeue the Romane Church And what should that meane but as I haue here sayd out of the Fathers As also against all Apocriphalles to say Credo Sanctas Scripturas Canonicas I beleeue the H. Canonicall Scriptures Item against Manicheus Montanus Luther and all other false-named Apostles or Euangelists of Christ to say Credo S S. Duodecim Apostolos Credo S S. quatuor Euangelistas I beleeue the H. Twelue Apostles I beleeue the H. Fower Euangelistes 35 Vnitie Motiue 27. Arti 15.17 Well of this irrefragable authoritie of Gods Church ouer vs and of our humble submission againe and affection vnto it procedeth I say in my next Demaund our inseperable vnitie Aug. cōtra Epi. Fund ca. 4. Ioan. 17. whiche S. Augustine in his Motiues to the Manichies calleth Confentionem Populorum atque Gentium Consenting of Peoples and Nations in one Which Christ in his prayer for it accompteth a most iust motiue for the world to beleeue in him But Fulke notwithstanding because his Protestantes haue it not Ar. 93. nor can not possibly atteyne vnto it telleth vs that also the Mahometistes and Turkes haue their
repent And how many such sinnes are there and which In one place you name two Obstinate and wilfull Apostasie and blasphemie against the holy Ghost after them you adde there c. Therefore looking in other places which be those caetera I finde where you name a Pur. 274.127.128.135.283 Contempt of all that preach Christ and repentance of our lothsome life past and saye then the which no vice is more mortall nor farther from forgiuenes In another place you name Saule 1. Sam. 16. for whom Samuel was not heard when he prayed and the obstinate Iewes Ier. 7.11.14 Ezech. 14. for whom Ieremy is often times forbidden to pray and the wicked generally because the Lorde testifieth that if Noah Daniel Iob prayed for them they shuld not be heard And you conclude therevpon Therefore there be sinnes for the which the Church ought not to pray and though she should pray yet she should not be heard euen of men remayning in this life Whereby it appeareth that in summe you say that it is vnlawfull to pray for any wicked person of what sorte soeuer his wickednes be so long as he continueth in his wickednes yea and that a Pur. 274.127.128.135.283 it is vnpossible for the wicked but to continue in his wickednes Such holsome doctrine you teach and that so often and so constantly yea also abusing the holy Scriptures for the same not onely in those places before noted 1. Ioan. 5. Mat. 12. Heb. 6. but also thrée places more There is a sinne vnto death for which we ought not to pray and He which sinneth against the holy Ghost shall neuer be forgiuen whosoeuer prayeth for him and There be some which sinne so horribly in this life that it is vnpossible for them to be renewed by repentance We were wont to matche you with your fathers the Nouatians Another old Heresie of the Protestants for denying the authoritie of Priestes to remit eyther all sinnes or some certaine sinnes and reseruing it to God alone But now when you say that some sinnes neither by the mercy of God are pardonable we must néedes confesse that you haue outshot them and therefore wonne the game from them What Acesius a Bishop of the Nouatians said to Constantinus the Emperour in the Nicen Councell yéelding the reason of their Schisme you may sée in Socrates who as a fautor of the Nouatians doth report it for their prayse Soc. li. 1. ca. 7.9 That they who after Baptisme fall into that kind of sinne which the holy Scriptures call Peccatum ad mortem Sinne vnto death ought not to be admitted to receiue the Diuine mysteries as other sinners customably were and are admitted after confession and the Priestes absolution but to exhort them to repentaunce or penance and that they looke for hope of forgiuenes not of the Priestes but of god who both can hath authoritie to forgiue sinnes But with you it is vnlawfull as to pray for them so also to exhort them to repentāce hope of forgiuenes at Gods hands Wel it is inough for a Christian man that it is the heresie of the Nouatians which you hold yea a maiori also and that the Catholike Church did then also practise as now The Protestāts also admit al to their Caluines bread by her Priestes to forgeue all sinnes without any such exception and so to admit all to our Lordes Body Yet for more comfort against all desperation I will answere to your places particularly 1. Ioan. 5. I say therefore that Sinne vnto death for the which S. Iohn saith not as you make him but onely thus Non pro illo dico vt roget quis I bidde not any man to pray for that is when one is dead in Mortall sinne and therefore now damned in hell which I shewed cap. 8. pag. 134. out of the text it selfe If that be not inough with you because you say Pur. 273.274 It is a new exposition and not onely voyde of all auncient authoritie but also hath all the olde writers against it and yet you do not nor can not alleage so much as one I say further Au. in r. 19. de Cor. gra ca. 12. it is S. Augustines exposition in diuers places and namely in his Retractatiōs which is much to be noted where to take away occasions from such Nouatians hauing aforetime written that he thought Peccatum fratris ad mortem The brothers sinne vnto death to be oppugning of the Brotherhood and enuying at grace it selfe he sayth Addendum fuit Si in hac scelerata mentis peruersitate finierit hanc vitam It should haue bene added therevnto If in this wicked peruersenes of minde he finish this life quoniam de quocunque pessimo in hac vita constituto non est vbique desperandum For because no man be he neuer so wicked is to be despeired of so long as he is in this life Nec pro illo inprudenter oratur de quo non desperatur Neither is it vndiscretely done to praye for him who is not despeired of Which is all one almost word for word also with that which D. Allen saith Pur. 274. and you gainesay where you say twise I deny your antecedent Heb. 6.10 Of S. Paules place also I gaue the right sense ca. 10. Dem. 24. He speaketh of Lapsi by name that is of such as deny their faith in persecution Of whom alone the Nouatians Heresie against the Priestes Power of forgeuing sinnes was in the first beginning Soc. li. 4. ca. 23. li. 7. ca. 25. as we reade in Socrates and others Now will you that all such dispaire But the Catholike Church in time of the Nouatians would not no nor the Nouatians them selues would so much as I haue shewed neither would S. Paule He saith Impossibile est eos qui prolapsi sunt reuocari ad paenitentiam It is vnpossible for such denyers to be renouated againe vnto repentance To be renouated againe what is that but all which he there said was done once afore to be done againe eos qui semel sunt illuminati they who once haue bene baptized for that Sacrament the Gréekes call Illumination haue also tasted the heauenly gift and bene made partakers of the holy Ghost in the Sacrament of confirmation Act. 2. ver 33.38 and haue tasted in the Sacrament of the Altar the good word of God and the puissances of the world to come For these Sacramentes were and are ministred adultis together with Baptisme And euen so the Fathers constantly expound this place against the Nouatians that it saieth no more but that a sinner can not be rebaptized can not be renouated ad inchoationem Christi to beginne Christ againe or ad fundamentum paenitentiae c. to the foundation of repenting from dead workes and of beleeuing in God of Baptismes and of Hands imposition They be the Apostles wordes in the same place and to them
this Heretike pretended against the Churche or against any thing of hers I haue answered it all and euery whit omitting nothing to my knowledge and so shall be able with the grace of God and also readie to answere him hereafter also if he harden his heart yet further to make more resistance against the trueth Counselling him rather yea and beséeching him in the bowels of the mercies of Christ to be better to his owne soule and to so innumerable other soules redéemed with the most precious bloud of Christe then to stande any longer against the Church of Christ to the damnation of so many soules specially hauing neither any text of Scripture nor any other authoritie Catholike against the same Churche as I haue here most euidently declared But if he list still without cause to blaspheme the Holy Citie and Tabernacle of God let him knowe Apoc. 13.22.3 and all such as he is that his name will be stricken out of it to his eternall confusion when our names that through the mercie of God be of it shall before all the worlde to our vnspeakable glorie appeare written in it together and in the booke of life of the Lambe and Sonne of God to whom be glorie in the Churche throughout all ages for euer and euer Amen FINIS The Printer to the Reader In two thinges I am to desire thée curteous and friendly Reader to extend thy accustomed gentlenes in perusing and reading of this godly worke One is that thou wilt friendly correct with thy penne these faults and what others els thou shalt therin espie committed in the Printing for although I haue had great care and bene very diligent in the correcting thereof yet because my Compositor was a straunger and ignorant in our Englishe tongue and Orthographi◠some faultes are passed vnamended of me The other that thou wilte not like the worse of this learned worke because it hath not the varietie of letters which is requisite in such a booke and as the Printers in England do customably vse my abilitie was not otherwise to do it and hauing these Characters out of England I could not ioyne them together with any others and so was forst to vse one Character both for the words of Fulke and for all Allegations Remember that when man can not do as he would he must do as he may Iohn Lyon The Errata Cap. 3. Fol. 11. for man reade men Pag. 80. for anima reade omnia Pag. 54. for anima reade anna Pag. 66 for obnaxius reade obnoxius for lanacri lauacri Pag. 190. for milenis reade milleuis Hag. 355. for Ephata reade Epheta for Ephphata Ephpheta ¶ The contentes of this Booke at large ¶ Chapter 1. Fulke confesseth out of the true Church to be no saluation ¶ Chapter 2. He confesseth the knowen Church of the first 600. yeares after Christ and the knowen members thereof ¶ Chapter 3. He confesseth the foresaid true Church to haue made so plainly with vs in very many of the controuersies of this time that he is faine to hold that the true Church may erre also hath erred The first part of this Chapter That the true Church may erre The second part That the true Church did also erre that in the same pointes as we now doe erre in i. Where he chargeth them with many pointes together ii As touching Vigilantius Inuocation of Saintes by it selfe iij. As touching Iouinian of Fasting of Virginities merite of Votaries Mariage iiij As touching Ceremonies v. As touching Purgatorie and praying for the dead 1. What he saith of particular Doctors and their particular times for it 2. What he saith of the whole Church in some of those times 3. To what origin he confesseth the Doctors to referre it to wit vnto Scripture and Tradition of the Apostles 4. He cōtrariwise feareth not nor basheth not to say they had it from the diuell and his limmes vj. As touching the Popes primacie ¶ Chapter 4. He chargeth the said Primitiue true Church also with sundrie errors wherewith he neither doth nor will nor can charge vs. ¶ Chapter 5. What reason he rendreth why they in those auncient times had the true Church notwithstanding these their errors ¶ Chapter 6. An answere first to all the foresaid errors wherewith he hath charged the Church of the first 600. yeares afterward likewise to all errors that he layeth to the Church of these later times His zeale in answering for Caluine and others beeing in deede of his Church The first part of this Chapter Concerning the errors that he layeth cap. 3. part 2. both to the Fathers and to vs. 1. Of Crosse and Images 2. Of Inuocation of Saintes and worshipping of their Relikes 3. Of Abstinence from fleshmeate and from Mariage 4. Of Ceremonies 5. Of Sacrifice And for the dead Purgatorie And Purgatorie fire Prayer for the dead And Oblations for the dead Beeres to carie home the corpses The Second Parte Concerning the errors that he layed cap. 4. to the Fathers not to vs. 1. Touching the Heresies which were in their times 2. Touching the errors of S. Cyprian S. Irenee and S. Iustinus 3. Touching Second Mariages And S. Ierome 4. Touching praying to the Sonne and to the Holy ghost 5. Of ministring the B. Sacrament to Infantes The third part Concerning the errors that he layeth to the Church of later time and not of old 1. Touching the bodies of Angels 2. Touching the Popes Superioritie ouer the Councell 3. Touching the Constance Councels presumption 4. Touching certaine false interpretations of Scripture ¶ Chapter 7. That he hath no other shift against our manifold Euidēces so cleere they be but the name of Onely Scripture as well about ech cōtrouersie as also about the meaning of Scripture it selfe how timerous he maketh vs how bold he bereth himselfe thervpon The first parte How he excepteth by Onely Scripture against all other Euidencies in the Controuersies that are betwene vs. 1. Against the Rule to know Heresie by finding the first authors and theire old Heresies By Antiquitie By names 2. Against the Apostles Traditions 3 Against the true Churches Authoritie that is against her practise and her Iudgement Against her Councels Against her Chiefe Pastors Determinations and their whole Succession 4 Against the Fathers both in generall and in particuler The second part Being tolde that the question betwene vs is not as he maketh it of the Scriptures authoritie but of the meaning How there likewise against al expositors he taketh the same exceptiō of only Scripture requiring also Scripture to be expounded by Scripture The third part What he meaneth by his Only Scripture and that thereby he excepteth also against Scripture it selfe The fourth part What great promises he maketh to bring most euident Scripture against vs and also by Scripture to proue his sense of Scripture Triumphing also before the victorie and saying that we dare not be tried by Scripture but reiect the Scriptures Wherevppon