Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	authority_n	church_n	scripture_n	4,231	5	6.1426	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15508	Charity mistaken, with the want whereof, Catholickes are vniustly charged for affirming, as they do with grief, that Protestancy vnrepented destroies salvation.	Knott, Edward, 1582-1656.; Matthew, Tobie, Sir, 1577-1655, attributed author.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646.; Potter, Christopher, 1591-1646. Want of charitie justly charged.	1630 (1630)	STC 25774; ESTC S102197	54,556	140

Protestants And then I make account that in the third place it will follow euen of it selfe that both Catholicks and Protestants are not saueable in both their seueral Religiōs without repentance thereof And consequently that no one of vs is to be blamed if conceauing his owne to be the only true Religion he declare the dangerous estate wherein he takes any other man to be who communicates and agrees not with him but rather that he is obliged to let him know it And now I will briefely put my selfe to proue the first assertion concerning the unity of the Church by some texts testimonies of holy Scripture and first of the old Testament In the time of Moyses when it pleased Almighty God to draws a visible people to himselfe and to give them an expresse law and to ordaine varietie of visible sacrifices by the oblation whereof they were to doe him homage and appease his wrath and to institute visible ceremonies for the more deuout and exact performance of the same it was also pleasing to his diuine Maiesty to appoint that howsoeuer the Iewes were to exercise their Religiō in some kinds in their seueral Synagogues yet that sacrifice was not to be offered to him by them but in the only Tēple of Ierusalem He also cōmaunded that in such cases of difficulty as might occure his whole people should be subiect to the determination and decision of the high Priest for the time being and this Deut. cap. 17. vpon no lesse then the paine of death from which sentence there was to be no appeale Let the place at large be well considered and it will easily appeare by the great authority and power which was cast vpon the indiuidual person of one Iudge that there could neither be any other Church nor any other Religion which might pretend to be true if it would presume to disagree dissent from this The same truth is also made euident by the feareful iudgment which fell vpō Core Dathan and Abiron Nū 16. for theire act of disobedience against Moyses and Aaron in so much as that the ground opened it selfe and swallowed them vp aliue with all their goods into the profound pit of hell in the sight of the whole paople for but offering to make a schisme from that one Church wherein he had ordained himselfe to be serued According to this practise vnder the written lawe Almighty God speaking to the Prophet Ezechiel of the times which were to succeede vnder the Messias made a promise that he would giue true Christians a heart which should be most truly one Ezech. 11. Et dabo eis cor vnum And the kingly Prophet Dauid describes the excellency and Maiestie of Almightie God by declaring howe he raignes in his holy place and makes them who inhabite that house to be all after one manner and to be indued with the same affections and dictamēs concerning his seruices Psal 67. Deus in loco sancto suo qui inhabitare facit vnius moris in domo Those words also of the Canticles Vna est columba mea Cant. 6. perfecta mea c. were spokē by the holy Ghost in the person of God the Father with intention to designe delineate the vnity of the Church for so it is interpreted by S. Cyprian De vnit Ecles and he expresses himselfe further thus vpon that occasion will any man thinke that he holds fast his faith if he hold not faste this vnity of the Church Now the same also is deliuered at least as certainely in the new Testamēt and so much more euidently and aboundantly as the Church of God vnder the lawe of grace was to be farre more diffused ouer the whole world and both for the honour of Christ our Lord the safety of his seruants who were so dearely bought by himselfe to be preserued in no lesse perfect vnity thē euer it had enioyed in former times We see therfore that Christ our Lord made it one of his last suits to his eternall father when he stood as it were euen vpon the very brim of death that he would preserue the disciples whom he had giuen him he would make thē al Io. 37. as truly one in affection and will touching things with might concerne his seruice as euen the Father Son were one And it may be noted here with all that in this case he speakes to his eternall Father for our increase of comfort with a compellation of extraordinary tendernes saying Io. 17. Pater sancte serua eos c. Keep them holy Father c. to shew how much his hearte was set vpon this suite When also he was vpō the point of his Ascension vp to heauen he commaunded his disciples to teach all nations to obserue all those things whatsoeuer which he hadū commaded them Matt. 18 v. 9. 20. and he pronounced indefinitely that whosoeuer would not belieue shouldbe condēned which doth clearely relate not only to this or that particular Article but to the whole sūme of Christian doctrine in generall and thus it may be seene that he intended to ordaine an exacte vnity in his Church Marc. 16 v. 26. that whosoeuer should fayle of beleeuing any one point of Christian doctrine should be as sure of condemnation as if he had beleeued but any one or none The Apostles planted this one faith and watered it with all so well that our Lord gaue great encrease to it the holy Ghost declared in the acts of the Apostles Act. 4 That the whole multitude of belieuers had but one heart and one soule And that vessell of the holy Ghost S. Paule considering how very much this point of vnity did import sendes his aduise to the Ephesians Cap. 4. that they should be carefull to preserue the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace and the word whereby he expresses himselfe implyes no ordinary kinde of care but a most particular solicitude of minde I should neuer make an ende if I would presse all those places of the new Testamēt which declare the intention of our Lord to haue his Church one and only one The very names whereby it is described as for exāple that of the Arcke of Noe of one Kingdome one Cittie one Spouse one vineyard one fielde one barne one ship one net one body many others of like nature which I omit shewe expresly that the Church of Christ our Lord was to be but One. And especially this point was setled by our Lord when he made his owne Church to be the only supreame Iudge euen in all spirituall offences and scandalls and much more in Controuersies of Religion amongst Christians requiring that whosoeuer would not hearken to and obey that Church should be held a very Pagan and Publican Matt. 18.17 without allowing him soe much as any appeale at all euen to the holy Scripture it selfe By which only words of our blessed Lord it is most clearly

haeretici c. De fide Symb cap. 10. both Heretickes Schismatickes are wont to call their congregations by the name of Churches Heretickes violate Fayth by belieuing false things of God and Schismatickes though they belieue the same things with vs doe yet fly from fraternall Charity by their wicked diuisions And therefore neither doth the Hereticke belong to the Catholicke Church because he loueth not God nor the Schismaticke because he loueth not his neighbour For how saith these Sainte elwhere shall the Schismaticke be esteemed to be in Charity with his neighbour who is out of Charity or Communion with the whole body of Christ which is his Church Epist ad Dam. Saint Hierome writing to Pope Damasus saith not only of the Catholicke Church indifinitely but denoting that to be the Romane that that Church is the Arke out of which whosoeuer liueth shal be drowned in the deluge and that that Church is the house out of which whosoeuer should eate the lambe were a prophane person Lactantius also sayth thus Lib. 4. cap. 30. Sola Ecclesia Catholica est c. It is the Catholicke Church alone which preserues the true worship of God this is the fountaine of truth this the house of faith this the Temple of God if any man either enter not into it or depart out of it Ibid. he shall be depriued of the hope of saluation and eternall life No man must flatter himselfe with an obstinate kind of contention for the questions here about saluation and life which if it be not watchfully and diligently prouided for it will be extinct and lost Saint Fulgentius hath this dreadfull saying wherewith I will conclude this point Firmissimè tene c. be most firmely persuaded and haue not doubt at all but that euery Hereticke or Schismaticke baptised in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost if withall he be not a member of the Catholicke Church can by no meanes be saued how great Almes soeuer he shall giue yea and though he should shed his bloode for the name of Christ For so long as the sinne either of Heresie or Schisme which drawes men downe to death shall remaine in any man neither Baptisme nor Almes nor death endured for the name of Christ can be of any benefit towards his saluation who houlds not fast the vnity of the Catholicke Church And now by this we see what the holy Scriptures and what the Fathers of the most primitiue time affirme concerning the vnsaueablenesse of any man who is not a member of that Church which formerly hath beene so cleerely proued to be but One Nor will I so much distrust either the attentiō or discretiō of my reader as to thinke that I neede presse this point any further Soe that now in the next place it will only remaine to be considered and resolued whether or no both the Catholickes the Protestāts cā be truly said to be parts mēbers of this One and the selfe same Church for if they can not the case in question is already iudged and there will be no colour of reason why either of vs should hereafter be charged with want of Charity for affirming that the other is not saueable without repentance of his Religion CHAPTER VI. That both Catholickes and Protestants can not possibly be accounted to be of one and the same Religion Fayth and Church HItherto I haue insisted vpō the former part of this maine discourse wherein I vndertooke to shew and doe conceaue my selfe to haue cōplyed with my word that there is but one true Religion one true Church out of which there is no saluation It will now remaine that I prooue the second part of my vndertaking which is that both the Catholickes Protestāts can by noe meanes account themselues to be professours of that one true Religion and obedient Children to that one true Church whichsoeuer be that true Church by the addresse cōduct wherof men may hope to saue their soules For cleare demonstration whereof it will be fit in the first place to shew what that is which makes a diuersity in Religion and without which men may still be of the same Religlon though there be difference of opinion betweene them The very name of a Christian Religiō whereby Almighty God is to be worshiped implyes a doctrine which must be beleiued Sacraments which must be receaued discipline which must be embraced Prelates or Gouernours which must be obeyed therefore that which make a Religiō to be entire is the beliefe of the same doctrine and the participating of the same Sacraments and obedience to the same discipline and Prelates or Gouernours so farre as men doe not obstinately reiect any part thereof or refuse to submit thereunto Whosoeuer doth this and cōformes his interiour by way of beliefe to the same doctrine and Sacramēts and his exteriour by way of obedience to the sayd Prelates and discipline may iustly be held to be one of the same Religion and whosoeuer refuseth to do this fayles of that But so also on the other side whensoeuer the Church hath not decided propounded and commaunded a doctrine to be belieued by her children and hath not enioyned such a part of discipline to be embraced a man so that he commit no scandall in the manner of it may varie both in the one and in the other from other men and may thinke and do as he sees cause without offending the vnity of Church or incurring thereby the crime either of heresie or schisme as I shall shew more at large afterwards vpon an other occasion It must therefore be considered whether Catholicks and Protestants be of one Church or not or rather it is to be seene for indeed in this case men haue not so much neede of their wits as of their eyes for the resoluing of the question But yet still to the end that euen the weakest stomackes may be made strong inough to digest that morsell which is coming toward it I will shew by seuerall arguments that we are farre from all possibility of passing for professours of the same Religion for members of the same Church so longe as we continue as we are For who perceaues not at the first sight that we resolutely differ from one another in the prime and maine points of Christian Religion We embrace not all the same Scriptures we differ about no fewer then fiue Sacraments of seauen which Catholickes belieue with all reuerence and they reiect withall contēpt Yea and euen concerning those two in the receiuing whereof we both agree namely the Sacrament Baptisme of the Cōmunion there are so many differences and debates amongst vs about the necessity of of the one and the reall presence of our Lord in the other that vpon the matter we can be thought but to agree in words We differ about the authority of all traditiōs vnwrittē which is the very foūdation of our

seriously censure the Zuinglians and all the Sacramentaries for hereticks and as alienated from the Church of God And I protest before God and the world that I agree not with them nor euer will but will haue my hād cleare from the blood of those sheepe which these hereticks driue from Christ deceaue and kill And againe in the same place Cursed be the Charity and concord of Sacramentaries for euer and euer to all eternity And a litle before his death he protesteth saying I hauing now one of my feete in the graue will carry this testimony and glory to the tribunall of God That I will with all my heart condemne and eschew Carolostadius Zuinglius Oecolampadius their disciples nor will haue familiarity with any of them neither by letter writing words nor deedes accordingly as the Lord hath commaunded Thus he sayth with very much more to the same effect And to make this yet more euident by the like testimonyes of the Zuinglians Caluinists the Tigurine Diuines say thus Nos condemnatam execrabilem vocat sectam c. Luther calls vs a damnable and execrable sect but let him looke that he declare not himselfe an Archheretick since he will not nor cannot haue any society with those that confesse Christ. But how marueilously doth Luther here bewray himselfe with his diuells what filthy words doth he vses such as are replenished with all the diuells in helle For he sayth that the diuell dwelleth both now and euer in the Zuinglians and that they haue a blasphemous brest insathanized persathanized and supersathanized and that they haue besides a most vaine mouth ouer which Sathan beareth rule being infused perfused and transfused into the same Did euer man heare such speeches passe frō a furious diuell himselfe In so much as Zuinglius sayth of him Behould how Sathā doth endeauour wholly to possesse this man And Oecolampadius also forewarnes Luther least being puffed vp by arrogācy pride he be seduced by Sathā Wherunto might be added sūdry other like testimonies This contention betweene Luther and his followers on the one party and the Zuinglians or Caluinists on the other is yet further testified not only by the almost infinite writings of on against an other yet dayly encreasing but also by the knowne mutuall proscription or banishment of ech other from their seuerall territories or dominions So farre were they from reputing one another for members of one and the same Church Thus farre goe the words of the sayd Apoligie where you shall finde the places both of Luther and Zuinglius and Oecolampadius and the Tigurine diuines exactly cited Heare also further what Nicolaus Gallus saith who was an eminent Minister at Ratisbone of the difference amongst the Protestants themselues Non sunt leues c In The sib Hypothes The dissentions which are amongst vs be not light nor cōcerning light matters but about the greatest Articles of of Christian Doctrine of the law and the ghospell of iustification and good workes of the Sacraments and vse of ceremonies Heare also what Conradus Schlussenburgus another famous Lutheran Protestant sayth in the very Title of his booke against the Caluinists Theologiae Caluinisticae libri tres c. Three bookes concerning Caluiniā diuinity wherein it is shewed as in a Table to the eye out of two hundred thre and twenty publicke writers of the Sacramentaries with particular setting downe the pages the words the names of the authours that the said Sacramentaries haue no true belief of almost any Article of Christian Faith This booke was printed at Franckford in the yeare 1594. Reade also but the very Title of two of Grauerus his bookes who was a famous professour of Lutheranisme the one is this Absurda absurdorū absurdissima Caluinistica absurda The absourd most absourd doctrines Caluin c. and the other Bellum Ioannis Caluini Iesu Christi printed 1598. The warre of Iohn Caluin against Iesus Christ. And lastly doe but read this Title of book writtē by Aegidius Hunnius who was a most famous Lutheran and succeeded next to Luther himselfe in possessing his Chaire at Wittenberge The Title is this Aegidij Hunnij Caluinus Iudai ●ans id est c. Caluin playing the Iew that is to say A discouery made by Aegidius Hunnius of the Iewish Interpretations and corruptions whereby Iohn Caluin ●ath not bene afrayde to corrupt after a detestable māner most illustrious places and testimonies of holy Scripture concerning the glorious Trinity the Deity of Christ of the holy Ghost and especially of predictiōs of the Prophets touching the coming of the Messias his Natiuity Passion Resurrection Ascension sitting at the right hād of God Printed at Wittenberge in the yeare 1592. I forbeare both to presse this euidēce I will no further seeke to prooue by way of Authority that both Catholicks and Protestants are not sauable as not being to be accounted to be of one and the same Church and Religion no not yet euen the Lutherans and Caluinists For in a word that reason strikes euen at the roote which is drawen from the nature propriety of faith it selfe And euen that alone if it be well considered will vnanswerably conuince not only that they are of differēt faith Church who differ in so many Articles of so great moment as these wherein we professe one selues to disagree but that they also who differ in any one single point which is propounded and commanded by the Catholicke Church yea and more ouer that they who differ not in any points at all if yet they assent not vpon the only true infallible ground which is as hath bene said the reuelation of Almighty God and the Proposition and Direction of the said Catholicke Churh not only haue the selfe same faith with that Church but that they haue no supernaturall and true faith at all euen of those other doctrines which they most earnestly thinke themselues to imbrace and cōsequently that it is wholly impossible for them to be saued if they dye impenitent The reason whereof is excellently deliuered by S. Thomas and many other diuines who vnaunswerably prooue that whosoeuer belieues not the whole corps of Christian Doctrine hath no true supernaturall faith at all and doth not righly belieue any one Article thereof He may haue a kinde of materiall fayth concerning those articles to which he giues assent but not a certaine and true and supernaturall faith vnles he belieue them vpon the right grounde thereof which is The speech or reuelation of Almighty God propounded and commaunded to belieued by the Catholicke Church For example if I should belieue that Christ our Lord dyed for the sins of the world either because I had only read it in some learned booke or in regard that I had ben told so by some friend whom I much esteemed and loued or else because I thought it likely in respect of some cōgruity thereof to other things or finally vpō any other

making euery toy to be Fūdamentall Where by the way he takes his pleasure vpon vs sayes that we Papists will not let Protestants be saued though they belieue the same Creede and the same faith with vs vnles withall they will belieue the same Mathematicks and gouerne thēselues by the same Kalēders which to omit other poornesses of his was soe weake and meane a iest so misbecoming of that Audience and of the place he helde as being fitter indeed for some Ordinary thē for a Chappel or Church and withall so very vntrue if he were in earnest that vnles the pride of his owne conceit had raised vp a dust to put out his eyes he could not but haue seene the senselesnes of what he said euen whilest he was speaking since we the Romane Catholickes in this kingdome do rather gouerne our selues at this day by the lesse perfect Kalender which now is vsed in this place then by the other which is both the better euen by the iudgment of learned Protestants is authorized by the Catholicke Church abroade Letting he world see thereby how willingly we can accommodate to them in all things which belong not meerely to Religion But Maister Doctour forgot himselfe worse shortly after For hauing grauely admonished mē before not to account things arbitrary to be necessary nor to call superstructions foundations nor to esteeme that euery little thing in Religion should be able to depriue a man of saluation he takes the paynes to wipe out with a wet finger the whole substance and drifte of all his owne discourse by saying to his effect That differēce in beliefe in points which are not very important is not to preiudice a mans saluation vnles by not belieuing them he commit a disobedience with all for saith he Obedience indeede is of the Essence of Religion Which vpon the whole matter is the very thing we say and the very thing whereby he crosses the whole scope of his owne sermon For if a mans disobediēce to the proposition and direction of the Church concerning an inferiour point of Doctrine do impugne the very essense of Religion it will follow that their distinctiō of points Fundamentall or not Fundamentall wherby they would inferre that a man can not loose his saluation but for misbelief in some few mayne points of Religion and not in the rest is absurd and vaine and detractiue both of Doctour Dunnes Doctrine last mentioned and of their owne obiection of vncharitablenes against vs for saying that men dying in different Religions cannot be saued And withall that this distinction will not secure them from committing the crime of separation from the Church of Christ our Lord and in swaruing from the directions thereof in which case all the Doctrines of the Church are found to be Fundamentall towards saluation And this shall serue for a dischardge both of what they obiect against our vnitie in faith and of what they alleadge in the behalfe of theirs And in the meane time I conceaue that I haue also sufficiently secured and settled those two mayne groundes vpon which this whole discourse is turned Namely first that there is but one true faith and one true Religion and Church out of which there is no saluation and secondly that both Catholickes and Protestants can not possible be accounted to be of that one Religion Church Faith And now for the finall proofe of this last point according euen to their practise as well as ours let my Reader but looke vpon the body of their lawes made against vs and especially vpon the Preambles thereof wherein they plentifully shew how hatefull an opinion they haue of our Church Let him looke vpon the seuerall Acts of State which haue issued from my Lords of the Counsell Let him looke vpō the proclamatiōs which haue beene made and published from time to time Let him looke vpon the large cōmissions which haue beene granted to Pursiuants whereby that scume of the world hath been and is enabled both to ransome ransacke vs at their pleasure Let him looke vpon those speeches which haue been vttered in both houses of Parliament not only against the professours but euen the profession it selfe of our Religion and how his most excellent Maiesty hath been importuned by their Petitions to add more weight to our miseries for thus it will easily be seene how false how rotten how superstitions how Idolatrous how detestable how damnable and euen destructiue of all truth and goodnes they professe themselues to esteeme our Religiō and in fine that we carry such a marke of the Beast in our foreheads as must needs in their opinion shut vp the gates of Heauen against vs and set open the iawes of Hell to deuoure and swallowe vs vp So that certainely we are no more of one Church with them in their opinion then they are of one with vs in ours And now there will remaine noe more but a short Recapitulation of what hath been deliuered more at large for the finishing of this discourse to which I will now betake my selfe A recapitulatiō of the whole discourse wherin it followes vpon the confession of both parties that the Catholickes and the Protestants are not both of them saueable in their seuerall Religions without repentance thereof before they dy and that Catholickes must therefore be no longer held vncharitable for saying so but those Protestants are shewed to be Libertines who say the contrary CHAPTER X. SInce the Faith Religion Church hath beene prooued both by Scriptures and Fathers as also by vnanswearable reasons which haue beene drawne both from the very groundes of true Faith and from the nature and spirit of Heresy and Schisme and finally by the Confession of both parties to be but only one and that out of that one there is noe saluation to be obtayned Since the difference concerning the Doctrine of faith betweene Catholickes Protestants are so many so important and so resolutely maintained cōcerning both the Canon of Scriptures the number nature of Sacraments the authority of traditions the supreme Iudge of Cōtrouersies the visible heade of the Church the iustification of ouer soules the valewe of our good workes the liberty of our will the possibility of keeping the Commandements the relations which runne betweene the men of this life on the one side and both the soules in Purgatory and the Saints in Heauen on the other Since besides our differences in points of Doctrine we swarue also from one an other in points of discipline and haue separated our selues haue mutually excōmunicated one another Since we hold them to liue in heresie and schisme and they vs in affected ignorance grosse superstition and Idolatry and are dayly making Sermons and bookes and edicts and lawes against one another it is certaine that either both they and we must not be saued if we dy vnrepētant of our seuerall Religions or else that the whole world hath beene in a dreame of three thousand yeares old euer

the honour and pleasure of this world carryes noe proportion at all with that of the next any more then idle dreames doe with strong truthes or vaine shadowes with substance which is substance indeede For in this life whatsoeuer delight is felt the minde of man is still too hard for the body and ouer works it doth secretly either giue or take a kind of lye and insatisfaction euen in the topp of all the greatest pleasure which it feeles though dull people vnderstand not or obserue not this But if for any one instāt a soule could haue any one glimpse of celestiall blisse and be ingulfed with all the facultyes thereof vpon an obiect of such infinite perfection as God is and that this were done without the interposition or interpretation of any creature but that the whole soule might touch and mingle and vnite it selfe for that instant with that soueraigne obiecte O how fully would the soule be satisfied O how base how beastiall would all the delight and glory of this world both appeare and be in respect of that We may see some traces of this truth by a consideration of those supernatural visitations and spirituall illustrations eleuations whereby our Lord hath been pleased to descend into the soules of innumerable seruants and Spouses of his euen in this life that so they might be enabled to take in as it were some little sent and ayre of that eternall blisse which is prepared for them in the next Yea how many haue there beene who formerly being all immersed in the pursuite of terrene honour and delight haue by the meanes of some one celestiall visitation been instantly and for euer estranged and that with extreme contempt from the care of all the carnal ioye and greatnes which this world was able to afford them ane haue been fixed with a perpetuall eye vpon the most ardent loue and most loyall faithfull seruice of our Lord God The storyes of our Saints liues and our owne experience in conuersation with spirituall persons which through the goodnes of God are neuer wanting in his holy Catholicke Church hath made vs not only see this truth but euen as it were to touch it with our fingers ends And yet there can be no doubt but that all the spirituall visitations and consolations and extasies and rapts which euer shall be or haue bene felt and suffered in this life by all the seruants of God and yet in some one of them we know that S. Paule was taken vp into the third heauen and that he was possessed with the vnderstanding and feeling of so high mysteries as it was neither lawfull not possible for man to expresse are most poore and meane thinges in comparison of any one moment of ioy in Heauen And the reason hereof is cleare For whatsoeuer spirituall gift is imparted in this life is but by image and representation but in the next it is in substance and face to face with God himselfe where he is seene as he is indeede If then one instant of celestiall glory be not only so farre exceeding all carnall ioy and pleasure which is but dust and trash being compared with that other but that also euen the highest spirituall gust and ioy which is experimēted in this life be not able once to subsist in sight of one moment of that glorious ioye which is felt in heauē though it be but for one instant how infinitely must we find our selues obliged to this immortal God of ours who hath vouchsafed not to ty vs to instants of time in the fruition of that glory but to enlarge and extend it I say not to yeares or ages or worlds of time but as farre as perfect eternity it selfe In comparison whereof the time of all this world from Adam to this day and a million of millions as much time as that and as many more millions as all the hearts of all men can comprehend and count are not so much in durance as one minute is being compared with all those milliōs of time And yet all this eternity of such glory as I haue described is vouchsafed to vs by the inexhausted goodnes of our Lord God for hauing produced any one single acte of Faith and Loue which yet we see may be innumerably multiplied with so much case For any one single thought which is directed to the glory of our Lord God doth increase the same grace in our soules and consequently layes vp a distinct degree of that eternall glory wherof we haue spoken So that it is a cleare and constant truth that for euery other good thought which may be conceaued in any one moment of time we shall haue an increase of eternall glory in a distinct degree beyond that which otherwise we should haue had and we shall for euer see more perfectly the immortall Essence of Almighty God and loue it more and enioy it more then we should haue done if we had not produced that one single act of minde which yet as I sayd may be done by any ignorant or silly creature in the world in any one moment of his time And yet withall we are so miserable as not to lamēt that this time should be lost not only vpon toyes and consequently vpon not increasing this stocke of immortall treasure but euen vpon committing of sinnes which doe no thing but horde vp an eternity of immense torments for vs insteede thereof We Catholickes must be thankefull and beg grace withall that we may cōtinue where we are and we must beg it also for such others as are not and will not be so happy yet to the end that contemning all the vaine delights and honours of this world which may intice them and all the disaduantages troubles which may threaten them they may giue themselues vp now at last to be receaued into the bosome of the holy Catholicke Apostolicke Romane Church and so to be embraced by those strong armes of that diuine protection and cōfort which Christ our Lord her Spouse hath endewed her with for the sauing of those soules for which he died Our Lord God make them so happy as to receaue this blessing and let all his Saints and Angels euer glofiry his holy name for hauing imparted it to vs. FINIS A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1. THAT Catholickes are both improbably and vniustly charged with lacke of Charity for affirming that Protestancy vnrepented destroyes saluation Chapter 2. Of the intention of Catholickes when they say that Protestancy vnrepented destroies saluation how that speech is to be vnderstood Chapter 3. That our saying that Protestancy vnrepented destroies saluation proceedes frō want of Charity in vs is no lesse vntrue because there is but one true Church then already I haue shewed it to be improbable and first this is proued by holy Scripture Chapter 4. The expresse vnity of the Church is also proued by the authority of the Fathers of the most primitiue times Chapter 5. It is proued both by holy Scriptures Fathers that out of this one true Church of Christ our Lord no saluation is to be found Chapter 6. That both Catholickes Protestāts cannot possibly be accompted to be of one the same Religion Faith and Church Chapter 7. Three obiections ar auoided which they make against vs to disproue our vnity in faith amongst our selues and so also is an allegation about Fundamētal points of faith wherby they would shewe that they hold as much vnity both with the Fathers and with the Lutherans yea and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are bound to maintaine Chapter 8. That Protestants haue no reason in alledging the distinction of fundamentall and not fundamentall points of faith as intending to proue thereby that they are in vnity with the Fathers of the Primitiue Church or of their fellow brethren the Lutherans yea and some times with Catholickes at this day Chapter 9. That Protestants neither do nor dare declare what are their fundamentall points of faith wherby yet they would pretend that they liue in the communion of the only one true Church of our Lord. Chapter 10. A recapitulation of the whole discourse wherein followes vpon the confession of both parties that the Catholickes and Protestants be not both of them sauable in their seueral Religions without repentance thereof before they dye and Catholickes must therefore be no longer held vncharitable for saying so but those Protestāts are shewed to be Libertines who say the contrary The Conclusion FAVLTES ESCAPED in the printing Faultes Corrected Pag. 8 l. 1 as man as a man 17 l. 2 we owne we owe 21 l. 29 hadū commaded had commaūded 24 l. 26 persisting persisting 30 l. 24 did it much did it with much 32 l. 28 doctrine or doctrine of 36 l. 16 of of eternall of eternall 38 l. 1. who forsake who forsakes 41 l. 2 these Saint elwhere the Saint else where 51 l. 10 to condemned to be condemned 55 l. 28 title of booke title of a booke 68 l. 9 particular studied particularly studied 70 l. 22 or argumt or argument 93 l. 9 execrable of execrable assertiō of 101 l. 4. of ou●● soules of our soules 110 l 6 and Polycarpe and S. Polycarpe l. 28 scoffe as vs scoffe at vs 117 l. 17 first cleare first cleared 119 l. 28 case chat case that 124 l. 29 And yet meanes of high euen by this And yet euen by this meanes of high

humane and fallible motiue whatsoeuer it is cleare that I could haue no supernaturall faith at all euen concerning that one single article of Catholicke doctrine And the same is to be said of the rest whether they be many or few great or smalle And the vndoubted reason hereof is because I giue not my firme assent to it vpon the only true infallible motiue which is the reuelatiō of God the propositiō of his Church For whatsoeuer is lesse then this cannot erect and qualifie an act of supernaturall faith with must be absolutely vndoubted and certaine and otherwise it is noe true faith at all but opinion and persuasion or humane beliefe He therfore with belieues not euery particular Article of Catholicke Doctrine which is reuealed and propounded by Almightie God and his Church doth no assent euē to any one of them which he belieues vpon the sayd only true and infallible motiue For if he did he would as certainely or rather indeede could not choose but as willingly belieue all the rest since they all come recomended to him by the same Authority And now if there be truth in this which indeed cannot be called into any question the Catholikes and Protestants are farre inough from being of one faith and Church since it is demonstrated that besides the maine differēces which runne betweene vs either they or we haue not really any true and supernaturall faith at all of any one doctrine of the Church wherein yet we seeme to consent together For as Turkes and Mores who belieue in God the Father haue yet no true supernaturall faith euen of that one single Article nor the Iewes of any thing contained euen in the old Testament so neither hath any heticke of any thing contained either in the old or new since they all resemble one another in this that whatsoeuer they belieue it is not done vpon that motiue which only can make an act of true and supernaturall faith And thus it shall suffice me to haue proued according to the maine proiect of this discourse that there is but one true faith which is the foundation of the only one true Religion which is exercised in one only true Church wherewith Christians are bound to communicate and that out of this Church there is no saluation to be found and lastly that both Catholicks and Protestants can by no meanes be accounted for members of one and the same true Church of Christ our Lord. But Protestants Qui nolunt intelligere vt bene agant though their reason tell them that al this is true do yet find their Religion to be so vnsoundly built that they can hardly be drawne to an acknowledgment thereof And therefore they are wont to say that such vnity of faith as this whereof we haue spoken is a kind of impracticable thing in this life that the holy Scripture speaking thereof is not to be vnderstood in such a rigid sense that the Fathers of the primitiue Church were too precise that way that their discourse of this kind was metaphysicall and that saluation is no so hard to be obtained but that there is roome inough in heauen for both Religions And finally they obiect that there is no such exact vnity as I haue her described euen amongst vs Catholickes and that thēselues maintaine a sufficiency of vnity in faith both with the Fathers of the primitiue Church and with their owne fellow brethren the Lutheranes yea some moreouer will be so courteous as to professe that they agree euen with vs moderne Papists in all Fundamentall points of faith But I will consider in the next chapter both how litle reason they haue in what they obiect herein against vs and in what also they alleadge for themselues The auoiding of three obiections which they make against vs to disproue our vnitie in faith amongst our selues and of a fourth allegation whereby they would shew that they hold as much vnity both with the Lutherans and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are boūd to maintaine CHAPTER VII THey first striue to impeach our vnity in faith by obiecting that variety of opiniōs in some points which they find by our books to be amongst vs whereby they would inferre that there is also amongst vs a diuersity of beliefe and faith and there is nothing more vsuall with them then this discourse But the answere is shortly and clerely this That wheresoeuer they find our Doctours to be of a contrary opiniō they shall also find those points in question not be haue bene defined by the Church but left at liberty to be debated and disputed as men see cause Such are a world of difficultyes betweene the Thomists and Scotists de auxilijs betwene the Dominicans and the Iesuites wherein either side defendes that which they take to be the truth opposing the contrary opinion by all the argumēts that occure And both sides the while are resolued ready to submit to the iudgmēt definitiō of the Church whensoeuer it shall be declared so captiuating their vnderstanding to the obediēce of faith as the Apostle exhorts And in the meane time they preserue the spirit of charitie in the bond of peace If our aduersaries could sh●w that they erected Altare contra altare or that they were resolued not to obey to the definition of the Church when it were declared they should haue reason on their side but otherwise they are either very ignorant or els full of malice who make this obiection And let them either shew what Iesuite and Dominican breakes communion with on another or els betake thēselues to some better prooffes The next obiection is yet more stupide then the former and I wonder how Caluins rage against the Church could put him so farre out of his wits as that he would euer take it into his mouth For it is he who being pricked by our noting their want of vnity towards their fellow brethren thinkes to re●ort it backe vpon vs by saying that we are not in case to obiect any such thing against them forasmuch as that forsooth we haue as many sects amongst vs as we haue seuerall Orders of Religious men and then he rekons vp Benedictans Carmelites Dominicans Franciscans whom els he will Wicked man who well knewe that no one of those holy Orders doth differ in any one point of doctrine from any of the rest are so farre from breaking communion with them as that still they preuent one another in all honour and good respects according to the aduice of the Blessed Apostle and much more do they exhibite all possible reuerence and obedience to the same Church and the Prelates thereof The difference which indeede raignes amongst them is who shal strip themselues soonest of all earthly incombrance and so fly the faster to heauen They haue seuerall Rules indeed which were framed by their seuerall Founders those men of God whereby they might the better direct their course to this iourneyes end according