against King John another of our Princes the Bishops and Monks and some part of the Nobility and absolved all his Subjects from that Oath of Allegiance they had taken to him and at last by the highest Impiety not only deprived him of his Kingdom but his Life and they wounded Henry the VIII a most noble Prince with their Curses and Excommunications and stir'd up against him sometimes the Emperor and sometimes the King of France and as much as in them lay exposed our Kingdom to be a Prey and a Booty to them like a company of silly men as they were to think so great a Prince would be frighted with Vizors and Rattles or that so great a Kingdom could be devoured at one mouthful and as if all this had not been enough they would needs make England a tributary Province and yearly most unjustly exacted a considerable Revenue out of it so much has the Friendship of the City of Rome cost us Now if they extorted these great Advantages from us by Impostures and ill Arts there is no reason why we should not by good Methods and Laws recover them back again but if on the other side our Kings induced by an Opinion of their simulated Holiness in the darkness of those times freely bestowed these things on them upon the account of Religion there is now very good reason that our latter Kings having discovered the Error of their Ancestors should take them away again they being possess'd of the same Power with the former Kings for every Donation becomes void when it is no longer approved by the Will of the Giver but it can never seem a Will which is clouded and impeded by Error The Conclusion THUS I have acquainted thee my Reader that it is no new or strange thing to see the Christian Religion in these days upon its Restitution and Revival in the World entertain'd with Slanders and Reproaches for the same things happened to Christ himself and his Apostles And yet least thou shouldest be misled and imposed upon by these Clamors of our Adversaries we have represented to thee what the whole manner of our Religion is what we believe concerning God the Father concerning his only Son Jesus Christ and concerning the Holy Ghost what our Opinion is concerning the Church the Sacraments the Ministry the Holy Scriptures the Ceremonies of the Church and all the other parts of the Christian Religon We have declared also that we detest as pernicious to the Souls of Men and plagues all those Ancient Heresies that have been condemn'd by the old Councils and Holy Scriptures That we have reduced into practise again as much as we can possibly the Ecclesiastical Discipline which our Adversaries had much weakned and that we punish all Licentious Courses of Life and Debauchery in Manners by our ancient and established Laws and that with as much 〈◊〉 as is fit and possible That we pâ—â—serve all Kingdoms in the same State we found them without any Diminution or Mutation and preserve the Majesty of our Princes intire as much as we can possibly That we have departed from that Church which they had made a Den of Thieves in which they had left nothing sound or like a Church and which they themselves confessed to have erred in many things as Lot left Sodom or Abraham Chaldea not out of Contention but out of Obedience to God and have sought the certain way of Religion out of the sacred Scriptures which we know cannot deceive us and have return'd to the Primitive Church of the ancient Fathers and Apostles that is to the beginning and first Rise of the Church as to the proper Fountain 2. THAT we have not indeed expected the Authority or consent of the Council of Trent in which we saw nothing was manag'd well and regularly where all that entered took an Oath to one Man where the Ambassadors of our Princes were despised and ill treated where none of our Divines could be heard where Partiality and Ambition openly carried all things and according to the Practice of the Holy Fathers and the Customs of our own Ancestors we have reformed our Churches in a Provincial Synod and according to our Duty we have cast off the Yoke and Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome who had no just Authority over us nor was like either Christ or St. Peter or the Apostles or indeed like a Bishop in any thing Lastly we do all agree amongst ourselves in all the Doctrines and Points of the Christian Religion and do with one Spirit and one Mouth worship God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 3. WHEREFORE O Christian and Pious Reader now thou feest the Reasons and Causes of the Reformation of Religion with us and of our Departure from them thou oughtest not to wonder that we should rather choose to obey our Saviour than Men. St. Paul hath admonished us that we should not be carried away with every Wind of false Doctrine and especially that we should mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which we have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Belly and by good Words and fair Speeches deceive the Hearts of the simple Their Impostures accordingly like Batts and Owls do now sometime since begin to flie and steal away before the rising Sun and cannot indure the Light of the Gospel and altho they were in some sense built and heaped almost up to Heaven yet they sink down into Ruins of their own accord For thou oughtest not to think that those things happened accidentally or by chance It was certainly the Will of God that in these times the Gospel of Jesus Christ should in defiance of all opposition be spread abroad in the World and therefore men being moved by the Word of God freely betook themselves to the Doctrine of Christ and as for us we sought neither Riches nor Pleasure nor case by this Change for our Adversaries abound in all these and we had a much larger Share of them whilst we continued with them 4. NOR do we decline Concord and Peace with Men neither but yet we will not continue in a State of War God that we might have Peace with Men. The Name of Peace saith St. Hilary is Pleasant but then Peace and Servitude are not the same thing for if according to their desire the Name of Christ should be supprest the Truth of the Gospel betrayed their wicked Errors be dissembled the Eyes of Christian Men be deluded and a plain and apparent Conspiracy be carried on against God himself this is not saith that great Man Peace but the conditions of a most base Slavery There is saith Nazianzen an unprofitable Peace and there is an useful sort of Discord for we must pursue Peace with Conditions as far as 〈◊〉 lawful and in us lyeth and unless these Limitations may attend it Christ himself came not to bring Peace into the World
Definition of the Fathers and the Decrees of the Nicene Council have most plainly committed both all inferiour Clerks and also all the Bishops to their own Metropolitans for all Affairs may be most prudently and justly ended in those places where they began nor will the Grace and Assistance of the Holy Ghost be wanting to any Province Let this Equity be â—ver of great esteem with all Christian Priests which hath been constantly retained 35. BUT Elutherius Bishop of Rome wrote much better and more pertinently to the thing we have now in hand in his Epistle to Lucius a King in Britain You have saith he desired I would send you the Roman and Caesarean Laws which you have a desire to settle in your Kingdom of Britain We may abrogate the Roman and Imperial Laws when we will but not the Law of God for you have by the Mercy of God received the Law and Faith of Christ in your Kingdom of Britain and you have with you in your Kingdom both Testaments compile out of them by the Assistance of God and the Counsel of your Kingdom a Law and then by it with Gods permission govern your said Kingdom for you are the VICAR OF GOD in that Kingdom according to that of the Psalmist the Earth is the Lords 36. IN short Victor Bishop of Rome held a Provincial Synod at Rome and Justinianus the Emperor commandeth that if need require Synods should be held in each Province and threatned that if this were neglected he would punish those that made default Every Province saith St. Jerome hath its particular Manners Rites and Opinions which cannot easily be removed or changed without a very great disturbance And why should I commemorate the most ancient Municipal Councils that of Eliberis Gangra Laodicea Ancyra Antiâ—ch Tâ—urs Carthage Milevis Toledo and Bourdâ—aux for this is no new thing So was the Church of God governed before the Fathers met in the Council of Nice for they had not presently recourse to a General Council Theophilus held a Provincial Synod in Palestinâ— Palmas in Pontus Irenaeus in Gaul Bachilus in Achaia Origen against Beryllus in Arabia and I omit many other Provincial Synods which were kept in Africa Asia Greece and Egypt which were most â—ious Orthodox and Christian tho the Pope had nothing to do with them For the Bishops then as necessity required and as things fell out presently consulted the Well-fare of their Churches in Domestick Councils and sometimes implored the Assistance of their neighbour Bishops at other they frankly aided each other without asking and if need were did by turns help one the other Nor did only the Bishops but Princes of those times think that the Concerns of the Church pertain'd to their Oâ—â—ice for to omit Nebuchadnezar who published a Capital Edict against all that should blaspheme the God of Israel and David Solomon Ezechias and Josias who did partly build and partly reform the Temple of God Constantius the Emperor without any Council took away the Worship of Idols and put forth a most severe Edict by which he made it capital for any man to offer Sacrifice to any Idol Theodosius the Emperor commanded all the Temples of the Pagan Gods to be razed to the Ground Jovinianus another of them so soon as ever he was declared Emperor made his first Law for the restitution of the Christian Exiles Justinianus was wont to say that his Care of the Christian Religion was as great as that of his Life Joshua so soon as ever he was made the Governour of the People had Precepts concerning Religion and the Worship of God given him for Princes are the nursing Fathers of the Church and the Keepers of both Tables nor was there any one Cause why God setled Governments in the World greater than this viz. That there might be some to preserve Religion and Piâ—ty in safety 37. AND therefore many Princes in this Age do sin the more grievously who being call'd Christians sit idely and enjoy their Pleasures and tamely suffer wicked Rites of Worship and the Contempt of the Deity and turn over all this Care to the Bishops and those very Bishops whom they know to have all Religion in the utmost degree of scorn as if the Care of the Churches and People of God did not at all belong to them or as if they were meer Herds-men of Cattle and to take care of Bodies but not in the least of mens Souls they remember not in the mean time that they are the Ministers of God and chosen for that purpose that they might serve the Lord. Ezechias the King would not go up to his own House until he saw the Temple of God throughly purged And David said I will not give Sleep to my Eyes no Slumber to my Eye-lids until I find out a Place for the Lord a Tabernacle for the God of Jacob. O that Christian Princes would hear the Voice of their Lord and Soveraign Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned O ye that are Judges of the Earth I have said saith he that ye are Gods that is men divinely chosen who should take care of my Name Think thou whom I have raised from the Dunghil and placed in the highest degree of Dignity and Honour and set over my People when thou so studiously buildst and adornest thy own House how thou canst despise and neglect my House or how thou canst every day petition me that I would confirm thy Kingdom to thee and thy Posterity What that my Name may for ever be treated unworthily that the Gospel of my Christ may be extinguished that my Servants may for my Sake he butchered before thy Eyes and in thy View that this Tyranny may rage the longer that my People may be imposed upon for ever that the Scandal may be confirm'd by thee Wo to him by whom Scandals come and wo to him by whom they are confirm'd Thou tremblest at the Blood of Bodies how much more shouldest thou abhor the Blood of Souls remember what I did to Antiochus Herod and Julian I will translate thy Kingdom unto thy Enemy because thou hast sinned against me I change Times and Seasons I reject Kings and I set them up that thou mayst understand that I am the most highest and that I rule in the Kingdoms of men and give them to whom I will I bring down and I lift up I glorifie those that glorifie me and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed FIFIS Lloyd's State-worthies p. 374 Eccles Restaurat p. 283. Tortura Torti p. 130. 1569. 13 Eli. e. a. In the English Life before his Works is called Witney November 1548. This Dispute began the 28 th of May Anno Christi 1549. and lasted five days 1551. 1553. Fuller in his Church History saith he was expelled for refusing to be present at Mass Anno 1553. 1554. Peter Martyr Ecclesia Restaurata p. 196 Peter Martyr also helped himself for he would not go without the Queens Pasport and leave and
SO we therefore because we are taken by them for mad-men and are traduced as if we were Hereticks and as if we had nothing to do with Christ nor with the Church of God have thought it not unreasonable or unprofitable to propound openly and freely the Faith in which we stand and all that Hope which we have in Christ Jesus that all may see what we think of every part of the Christian Religion and so determine with themselves whether that Faith which they must needs perceive to be consonant to the Words of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles and the Testimonies of the Catholick Fathers and which is confirmed by the Examples of many Ages be only the Rage of a sort of mad-men and a Combination or Conspiracy of Hereticks CHAP. II. Containing the Doctrine received in the Church of England WE believe that there is one certain Nature and Divine Power which we call GOD and that this is distinguished into three equal Persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost all of the same Power of the same Majesty of the same Eternity of the same Divinity and of the same Substance and altho' these three Persons are so distinguished that the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Holy Ghost or Father yet there is but one GOD and that this one God created Heaven and Earth and whatever is contain'd within the Circumference of the Heavens 2. WE believe that Jesus Christ the only Son of the eternal Father as it had been decreed before the beginning of all things when the fulness of time came took our Flesh and perfect Humane Nature of that blessed and pure Virgin that he might reveal to Men that hidden and secret Will of his Father which was conceal'd from all former Ages and Generations and that in this humane Body he might finish the Mystery of our Redemption and might nail to his Cross our Sins and the Obligation which lay against us 3. FOR we believe that for our sakes he died was buried descended into Hell and the third day by a Divine Power returned to Life and arose and after forty days in the sight of his Disciples ascended into Heaven that he might fill all things and that the very Body in which he was born in which he convers'd in which he was despised in which he had suffered most grievous Torments and a most direful Death in which he rose and now ascended to the right hand of his Father was placed above all Principalities and Power and every Name which is mentioned not only in this World but in that which is to come in Majesty and Glory And we believe that he doth now sit there and shall sit there till all things are fulfil'd and altho the Majesty and Divinity of Christ is diffused every where yet his Body as St. Augustine saith ought to be in one place we believe that tho Christ added Majesty to his Body yet he took not from it the Nature of a Body nor is Christ to be so asserted to be God that we should deny him to be Man and as the Martyr Vigilius said Christ left us as to his Humane Nature but he hath not left us in his Divine Nature and tho he is absent from us by the Form of a Servant yet he is ever with us by the Form of God 4. AND from thence we believe Christ shall return to exercise a general Judgment as well upon those he shall then find alive as upon all that are then dead 5. WE believe that the Holy Ghost who is the third Person in the Holy Trinity is true God not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding from both that is from the Father and the Son in a way neither known to Mortals nor possible to be expressed by them We believe that it is He who softens the Hardness of Mans Heart when he is received into their Hearts by the saving preaching of the Gospel or by any other way whatsoever that it is He who inlightens them and leads them to the Knowledge of God into all the ways of Truth into a perfect newness of Life and a perpetual hope of Salvation 6. WE believe that there is one Church of God and that not consin'd as it was heretofore to the Jewish People in one Angle or Kingdom but that it is Catholick and Universal and so diffused or spread over the Face of the whole Earth that there is no Nation which can justly complain that it is excluded and cannot be admitted into the Church and People of God that this Church is the Kingdom the Body and Spouse of Christ that Christ is the only Prince of this Kingdom that there is in the Church divers Orders of Ministers that there are some who are Deacons others who are Presbyters and others who are Bishops to whom the Instruction of the People and the Care and Management of Religion is committed And yet that there neither is nor is it possible there should be any one man who has the care of this whole Catholick Church for Christ is ever present with his Church and needs not a Vicar or sole and perfect Successor and that no mortal Man can in his mind contain all the Body of the Universal Church that is all the parts of the Earth much less can he reduce them into an exact Order and rightly and prudently administer its Affairs That the Apostles as St. Cyprian saith were all of equal Power and Authority and that all the rest were what St. Peter was that it was said to all alike Feed To all go ye into all the World To all teach ye the Gospel And that as St. Jerome saith All Bishops wheresoever they are setled whether it be at Rome or Eugubium at Constantinople or Rhegium they are of equal Worth and of the same Priesthood And as St. Cyprian saith there is but one Episcopacy and each of them hath a perfect and intire share of it And that according to the Judgment and Sentence of the Council of Nice the Bishop of Rome hath no more Authority in the Church of God than the other Patriarchs viz. the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch That the Bishop of Rome who now endeavours to draw all the Ecclesiastical Authority to himself alone if he doth not his Duty that is if he doth not administer the Sacraments if he doth not instruct the People Admonish and Teach he is not to be call'd a Bishop or indeed a Presbyter for as St. Augustin saith Bishop is the Name of a Work or Office and not a Title of Honour so that he who would usurp an unprofitable Preheminence in the Church is no Bishop But then that the Bishop of Rome or any other Person should be the Head of the whole Church or an universal Bishop is no more possible than that he should be the Bridegroom the Light the Salvation and the Life of the Church for these are the Priviledges and Titles of
future by which it might be proved he was of another Nation So these men pretending that all their Innovations were consigned to them by Christ and his Apostles and desiring they should be accordingly esteemed lest there should be any thing any where extant which might contradict these Dreams and Shams either burn or suppress the Scriptures and keep them from the People St. Chrysostom has written very well and appositely against such men as these Hereticks saith he shut the Gates of Truth for they know if they be kept open the Church will never be thought theris And Theophylact stiles the Word of God a Candle by the Light of which a Thief may be discovered And Tertullian saith the Scriptures convict the Frauds and Thefts of Hereticks For why else do they hide and suppress the Gospel which Christ commanded his Disciples to publish from the House top Why else do they indeavour to put that Candle under a Bushel which ought to be set in a Candlestick Why do they trust more to the Ignorance Blindness and Folly of the Multitude than to the Goodness of their Cause Do they think their Arts are not disclosed or that as if they had Gyges his Ring they can go undiscovered The World sees now with both Eyes what is so carefully locked up in the Cabinet of the Popes Breast this one Argument is sufficient to prove they do not act well and sincerely that Cause deserves to be suspected which declines a Scrutiny and hates the Light for as Christ saith he that doth Evil seeks Darkness and hates the Light but a mind conscious of what is good willingly comes forth that the Works which come from God may be seen but these Gentlemen are not so blind but they see what will become of their Kingdom if the Scriptures come once to be generally known and as it is said of old all the Idols of the Demons which before gave Oracles suddenly became dumb upon the appearance of Christ upon Earth so now will all their Arts at the approach of the Gospel sink down into Ruins and Rubbish for Antichrist is not to be deposed by any other thing than the Brightness of the coming of Christ 29. WE do not like them presently betake our selves to Fire and Sword but to the Scriptures nor do we assault them with force and Arms but with the Word of God By them as Tertullian saith we nourish our Faith by them we erect our Hope by them we establish our Confidence for we know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Power of God unto Salvation and that in it there is eternal life and as St. Paul admonisheth us we would refuse to hear an Angel of God that came from Heaven if he endeavoured to turn us away from any part of this Doctrine Yea as that most holy man Juastin Martyr said of himself we would not believe God himself if he should teach us another Gospel for whereas they make the Holy Scriptures like silent Masses dumb and useless and appeal rather to God himself speaking in the Church and in Councilâ— that is to their own better Senses and Opiâ—nions that is a very uncertain and dangerouâ— way of finding out Truth and in a sort Phaâ—natical and which was never approved bâ— the Holy Fathers St. Chrysostom saith indeedâ— that many boast of the Holy Spirit but if theâ— they speak what is their own they glory falsly 〈◊〉 what they have not for saith he as Christ denied that he spake from himself when he spake out of the Law and the Prophets so now if anâ—â—thing besides the Gospel is obtruded upon us undeâ— the Name of the Holy Ghost it is not to be believâ—ed for as Christ is the Completion of the Laâ— and the Prophets so the Spirit is the Completion 〈◊〉 the Gospel CHAP. V. Concerning the Answers and Objections out of the Fathers and Councils BUT though they have not the Scriptures on their side perhaps they will pretend they have the ancient Doctors and the Holy Fathers for that they have ever boasted that all Antiquity and the perpetual Consent of all times is for them and that all our Pretences are Novel and were never heard of till within the course of a very few years last past 2. NOW certainly there can nothing of more weight be said against Religion then that it is new We know not how this has come to pass but from the beginning of the World thus it hath ever been for whensoever God hath discovered and restored to Mankind the light of his Truth tho it is not only of the utmost Antiquity but older than time it self and eternal yet it ever seems to wicked men who hate it to be new and of no Antiquity That impious and bloody man Haman that he might bring the Jews into disfavour thus accused them to Assâ—erus Thou O King hast here in thy Dominions a certain People scattered abroad which observeth new Laws but is stubborn and rebellious against thy Laws St. Paul also when he began first to preach the Gospel to the Athenians was said to be a Setter forth of strange Gods that is of a new Religion and accordingly thus they bespeak him May we know what this new Doctrine whereof thou speakest is And Celsus when he wrote expresly against Christ and his Gospel that he might expose it to the scorn of men under the pretence of its Novelty writes thus What saith he has God after so many Ages now at last bethought himself Eusebius also is our Author that from the beginning the Christian Religion was in derision stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new and strange Religion and so our Adversaries condemn all our Doctrines as new and strange but then they desire that all their own without exception should be reputed most ancient just as the Magicians and Conjurers whose business is with the infernal Spirits that their abominable Art may be thought the more sublime and divine as being derived from great Patrons and Inventors and of a very ancient Original do commonly say that they have their Books and all their Rites and secret Mysteries from Athanasius Cyprian Moses Abel and Adam and from the Arch-Angel Raphael So our Enemies that their Religion too which they have not long since patch'd up for themselves may with the more â—ase be recommended to ignorant men and those that rarely consider what themselves or others do pretend that it came down to them just such as now it is from St. Augustin St. Hierom St. Chrysostom and St. Ambrose from the Apostles and Christ for they very well know that there is nothing more popular and of greater esteem with men than those venerable Names But now what if those things they pretend are so new do indeed prove to be most ancient and what if on the other side almost all those things which they extol so very much upon the pretence of Antiquity when they are well and
diligently examined are in the end sound to be new and of a very late Original 3. IN truth the Laws and Ceremonies of the Jews altho accused by Haman as new could never be thought so by any man who did well and rightly consider the thing for they were written on most ancient Tables and Christ tho many thought he departed from Abraham and the ancient Fathers and brought in a new Religion in his own name yet answered truly if ye believed Moses ye would believe me also for my Doctrine is not so new for Moses a very ancient Author and of great esteem with you hath spoken of me and St. Paul saith of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which many thought to be new that it had the most Ancient Testimony of the Law and the Prophets And our Doctrine which we may much better call the Catholick Doctrine of Christ is not so new but that it is commended to us by the Ancient of days the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in most ancient Monuments the Prophets and Gospels and the Writings of the Apostles and these cannot now seem new to any man but to him to whom the Faith of the Prophets the Gospel and Christ himself seems new But then as to their Religion if it be so ancient as they pretend why do they not prove it so from the Examples of the Primitive Church from the old Fathers and the antient Councils Why doth so antient a Cause lye desolate and without a Patron so very long Indeed they never want Fire and Swords but then as to the ancient Fathers and Councils there is with them a deep silence But it is the height of Absurdity and Folly to begin with those bloody and brutish Reasons if they could possibly have found out easier and milder Arguments 4. AND again if they do indeed intirely trust to Antiquity and do not dissemble any thing why did one John Clement an English man rend and burn some Leaves of Theodoret a most ancient Father and a Greek Bishop in the presence of several persons of good Worth and Credit believing that another Copy of that Book was no where to be found because this Father had perspicuously and clearly taught that the Nature of the Bread was not abolished in the Eucharist Why doth Albertus Pighius deny that the ancient Father St. Augustin had a true notion of original Sin Or of Matrimony in that he saith that a Marriage made after a Vow entered is a good Marriage and cannot be dissolved upon which occasion Pighius saith Augustin erred and made use of false Logick And why did they in a late Impression of Origen upon the Gospel of St. John omit the whole sixth Chapter in which it is probable or rather certain that Father has delivered many things contrary to their Opinions concerning the Eucharist choosing rather to deface and to mutilate this ancient Father than to suffer any thing to appear in the World which might contradict their Doctrine by printing the Book perfect Is their Rending Suppressing Maiming and Burning the Writings of the ancient Fathers an Argument of their Reliance on Antiquity 5. IT is worth the while to see how rarely these Gentlemen agree in matters of Religion with those antient Fathers of whose concurrence they boast so unmeasurably 1. The ancient Elibertin Council decreed that what was the Object of Worship should not be painted in Churches The old Father Epiphanius saith it is a hâ—rrible wickedness and an insufferable villany for any man to set up the Picture even of Christ in Christian Churches but they have filled all their Churches and every Corner of them with Pictures and Statues as as if there were no Religion without them 2. The ancient Fathers Origen and St. Chrysostom have exhorted the People to the diligent reading of the Scriptures that they would buy Books and discourse amongst themselves of holy things in their Families the Wives with their Husbands and the Parents with their Children but our adversaries condemn the Scriptures as dead Elements and drive the People from them as much as they can possibly 3. The ancient Fathers Cyprian Epiphanius and St. Jerome if any Person who had vowed to live a single Life did afterwards fall into impurity and could not overcome the Rages of his Concupiscence said it was better for him to marry and live chastly in a State of Matrimony and such a Marriage is by St. Augustine another ancient Father adjudged to be valid and good and that it ought not to be recalled or rescinded but they if a man has once bound himself by a Vow although he is afterwards burnt altho he Whores altho he lives never so lewdly and dissolutely yet they will never suffer him to marry or if he does perhaps marry they deny that it is a lawful Marriage and they â—each that it is much more holy to keep a Concubine or a Whore than to live in a state of Matrimony 4. St. Augustin an ancient Father complained of the excessive number of impertinent Ceremonies with which the Minds and Consciences of Men were even then oppressed they as if God regarded nothing else have since swelled the number of them to so immense a quantity that there is scarce any thing else left in their Churches 5. The same ancient Father denies it to be lawful for a Monk to live lazily in idleness and under the Shew and Pretence of Sanctity to live on what is anothers and the ancient Father Apollonius saith such a Monk is no better than a Thief But they have whole Flocks or Herds shall I call them of Monks who do nothing nor do they so much as pretend to any shew of Holiness and yet do not only live by the Labour of others but fare deliciously and luxuriously 6. An ancient Roman Council decreed that no man should be present at that Divine Service which was celebrated by a Priest which he knew kept a Concubine but they permit the Priests to keep Concubines for Money and by force compel men to be present at their Sacrilegious Services 7. The ancient Apostolical Canons command that Bishop to be deposed who shall exercise at the same time the Office of a Bishop and the Function of a Civil Magistrate but these men do and will exercise both or rather indeed totally neglect that which is most of all their Duty and yet there is no man to remove and punish them 8. The ancient Council of Gangra forbid any man to put such difference between a married and a single Priest as to esteem the one more Holy than the other upon that account but they put such a Difference that they think all the Holy Services which are performed by a pious and good man who hath a Wife are prophaned 9. The ancient Emperor Justinianus commanded all things in the Divine Service to be pronounced with an audible loud clear articulate Voice that the People
these as his own tho he would yet he cannot commit Simony But then how well or rationally this is spoken we poor Men cannot see or understand except as the ancient Romans served Victory so they have served Truth for when she once came flying to them they clipt her Wings that she might no more sly from them But what if Jeremias should tell them as we have observed above that these are lying Words And what again if he should say That many Pastors who ought to have dressed have destroyed my Vineyard What if Christ should say that those who should have taken the greatest care of the Temple have made the House of God a Dâ—n of Thieves For if the Church of Rome cannot Err she is more beholding to her own good Fortune than to their Prudence or Care for such are their Lives Doctrines and Diligence that if we are to take our Measures from thence this Church is not only in danger of falling into â—rror but of a total Ruine and Destruction And certainly if that Church can err which hath departed from the Word of God the Commandments of Christ the Institutions of the Apostles the Examples of the Primitive Church and from the Canons and Sanctions of the ancient Fathers and Councils yea and from her own too which will be obliged by neither old nor new Laws by neither her own nor any others by neither Divine nor Humane Laws I say if all this be to err then it is certain that the Church of Rome not only may err but that she hath most wickedly and lewdly erred 11. BUT they say we were once of their Communion but now we are Apostates and have departed from them indeed we have departed from them and we bless the Great and Holy God for it and please our selves mightily in it but then we have not departed from the Primitive Church from the Apostles from Christ we were educated indeed with them in darkness and ignorance of God as Moses was in the Discipline and bosom of the Egyptians We were of your Number saith Tertullian and I confess it but what wonder is there in that Men are made and not born Christians But then I may as well ask them why they have descended from the seven Hills on which the ancient City of Rome stood to dwell in the Plains in the Martian Field to which perhaps they would reply that the Aquaeducts without which they could not conveniently dwell on those Hills have failed Let them then but grant the same liberty in relation to the Waters of Life which they expect we should afford them in regard of the common Family-water The Springs did now fail with them The Elders saith Jeremiah sent their little ones to the Waters they came to the Pits and found no Water they returned with their Vessels empty they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Or as Isaiah saith The Poor and the Needy seek Water and there is none and their Tongue faileth for thirst They had broken all their Conduits and Water-courses they had stopped up all the Springs and covered the Fountain of Living Waters with mire and mud and as Caligula by shutting up all the publick Granaries enjoyned the People of Rome to fast so they by stopping up the Fountains of the Word of God had enjoyned the People to undergo the Miseries of a destructive Thirst they have as the Prophet Amos saith brought upon the World a Famine Not a Famine of Bread nor a thirst for Water but of hearing the Words of the Lord. Miserable Men went searching about for a small spark of Divine Light to chear their Consciences but they were all gone out and they could find none this was the miserable Condition and State of their Church men lived wretchedly in it with out the Gospel and without Light or Conslation 12. AND therefore how afflictive soever our departure from them may seem to them yet they ought at the same time to consider how just the cause of it was for if they say in general it is not lawful to leave that Society in which thou wert educated this were in our Persons to condemn the Prophets Apostles and Christ himself for why is it not as reasonable to blame Lot for leaving Sodom Abraham for leaving Chaldea the Hebrews for leaving Egypt Christ for leaving the Jews and St. Paul for leaving the Pharisees For except it be granted that there may be a just cause of departure we can see no cause why these may not in the same manner as we are be accused of Faction and Sedition But if we are to be thought Hereticks because we will not obey all their unjust commands what are they Who or what are they to be thought who have contemned the Commands of Christ and his Apostles If we are Schifmaticks who have forsaken them by what name shall we call them who have forsaken the Greeks from whom they first received the Christian Faith the Primitive Church Christ and the Apostles who were their Spiritual Parents For the Greek Church who at this day profess the Religion and Name of Christ altho they have in many things contaminated it yet they still retain a great part of those things which they received from the Apostles And so they have no private Masses no maimed Sacraments no Purgatory nor Indulgences And as to the Papal Titles and magnificent Names they have this esteem of them that whoever calls himself the universal Bishop and the Head of the whole Church is a proud Man and injurious to all the other Bishops who are his Brethren nor will they scruple on this single account to call him Heretick 13. BUT now seeing it is apparent and cannot be denied that they have made a defection from them from whom they received the Gospel the Christian Faith and Religion yea and the very being of a Church what cause is there to be given why they should not return back to them as to their Original Why should they so much dread the times of the Fathers and Apostles as if they had seen nothing Why do they see more or love the Church better than they who delivered what they have to them for as for us we have forsaken a Church in which we could neither hear the pure Word of God nor administer the Sacraments nor invoke the Name of God as we ought which they themselves acknowledge to be faulty in many things and in which there was nothing to retain a prudent Man who thought seriously of his Salvation Lastly We have departed from a Church which is not now what anciently she was and so we have departed as Daniel did out of the Den of Lyons as the three Children did out of the fiery Furnace or to speak more properly we have not so much departed from them as been cast out by them with Execrations and Curses 14. BUT then we have united our selve to that Church in which if they would
receive them But if that Expression to thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be to be understood as spoken to all the rest as well as to Peter why then should not all that was spoken as well what went before as what follows after tho spoken to St. Peter yet be common to all the Apostles There is saith Hillary one happy Rock of Faith which Peter confessed with his Mouth and again upon this Confession of Peter's is the Church built and not much after this Faith is the Foundation of the Church And after the same manner the other Fathers also Jerome Cyril and Bede say the Church is built not upon Peter but upon the Faith of Peter that is on Jesus Christ the Son of God whom Peter by an Heavenly instinct confessed Peter saith St. Augustin was so call'd from the Rock not the Rock from Peter nor did Christ say I will build my self upon thee but I will build thee upon me And Nicholas Liranus tho he is not always a good Author for you know in what Age he lived yet he rightly took this upon this Rock saith he that is upon Christ and therefore the Church cannot depend upon any man by reason of his Dignity and Ecclesiastical Power for many Popes have proved Apostates 28. IN what then is this Papal Authority placed In Teaching but they teach nothing in administring the Sacraments but they do not administer them in feeding but they feed none Now this is all the Power which Christ bestowed upon the Apostles Go ye said he into all the World and preach the Gospel c. hence forward ye shall be Fishers of Men and as the living Father sent me so I send you But as to these whither go they what do they teach what do they preach what do they fish for from whence go they or by whom are they sent their 's is nor Apostolick Authority but Pride and an intolerable Lordship usurped by Force and Tyranny None of us saith Cyprian calls himself Bishop of Bishops or compells his Partners to a necessitated Obedience by a Tyrannical Terror Seeing every Bishop may use his Liberty and Power according to his own Discretion as he cannot be judged by another so neither can he judge another And as the other Apostles saith he were the same which Peter was so all Bishops are endowed with this equal Partnership both of Honour and Power And St. Jerome saith greater is the Authority of the World than that of any City Why then do you produce to me the Custom of one City Why do you vindicate that Paucity from which this Pride arose against the Laws of the Church Where-ever a Bishop is setled whether at Rome or Eugubium whether at Constantinople or Rhegium he is of the same Worth and of the self same Priesthood the greatness of Riches and the Humility of Poverty makes not one Bishop superior or inferior to another And St. Gregory saith Peter was a principal Member in the Body John Andrew and James were the Heads of particular People and yet all of them are Members of the Church in one Head yea the Saints before the Law those under the Law and those under Grace and all those who make up the Body of our Lord the Church are to be accounted Members and no man ever yet desired to be call'd an UNIVERSAL 29. THIS is that Power which some men defend so stoutly in this Age so that whatever they think of the Popes Life or Religion yet they would have this Authority Sacred and untouched as if the Church of God could not be safe without it or as if without the Popes Will and Consent a Council could be no Council and that if the whole World should think contrary to what he doth it would be nothing And therefore when you see Sir that these things are thus ill managed you ought not to wonder that when nothing is now sincerely and truly acted in Councils our Men had rather stay at home than travail so far to no purpose to a Place where they are sure to lose their Labour and their Cause too 30. BUT Sir you say in the next place it is a Sin to change any thing in Religion without the Consent of the Pope and a Council Why Sir the very Popes themselves have changed almost the whole State of the Primitive Church without any Council and tho this is indeed a very specious and winning Proposition yet it is made a Cover and Defence for most foul Errors for they only seek to delay the Minds of Men with a tedious Expectation that by lingring and weariness they may take off their Edge and Keenness and so by degrees make them cast off all Hopes of a Reformation For what would they have the People of God be deceived err be deluded and involved in Error and in the Ignorance of God and be led into eternal Ruine and Destruction whilst the Pope calls a Council and the Abbots and Bishops meet debate settle things and then return home Is it not lawful for any of us to believe in Christ to prosess the Gospel to worship God rightly and truly to fly from Superstitions and Worship of Idols except these men please to give us leave In truth the state of the Church of God were very deplorable if in the midst of so many far spread gross blind foul apparent and manifest Errors so that our very Enemies themselves cannot deny them nothing could be done for her Relief without the Concourse of the whole World and a General Council or at least of such a Council as we cannot hope for with any certainty and the event of which if we now had it is much more uncertain When of old the Persians invaded Greece and began to destroy all before them and the Lacedemonians whose valour was then much famed amongst the Grecians and therefore it was but reasonable they should have been the first in the defence of their Country yet because they had an ancient Custom and a Superstitious conceit that had possessed them from the time of Lycurgus that it was ominous and unfortunate to begin a Martial Expedition at any other time than that of the full Moon therefore they sat still and suffered their Enemies to plunder and burn their Country whilst they were foolishly expecting that period of the Moon which was most opportune and fitting to begin their defence in But at last they bethought themselves and cried There is equal danger in the delay The safety of the Church is in danger the Devil like a ramping and a roaring Lyon goes about seeking whom he may devour simple men are easily drawn into the snare and tho they are very often touched with a Zeal for God yet out of Ignorance and Misperswasion they persecute the Son of God And as Nazianzen saith When they think they are in Arms for Christ they do really fight against him And the Bishops who ought in the first place to
Arts. 12. NOW if we make it appear and that not obseurely and craftily but bona fide before God truly ingeniously clearly and perspicuously that we teach the most holy Gospel of God and that the antient Fathers and the whole Primitive Church are on our side and that we have not without just cause left them and return'd to the Apostles and the antient Catholick Fathers and if they who so much detest our Doctrine and pride themselves in the name of Catholicks shall apparently see that all those Pretences of Antiquity of which they so immoderately glory belong not to them and that there is more strength in our Cause than they thought there was then we hope that none of them will be so careless of his Salvation but he will at some time or other bethink himself which side he ought to joyn with Certainly if a man be not of an hard and obdurate Heart and resolved not to hear he can never repent the having once considered our Defence and the attending what is said by us and whether it be agreeable or no to the Christian Religion 13. FOR whereas they call us Hereticks that is so dreadful a Crime that except it be apparently seen except it be palpable and as it were to be felt with our Hands and Fingers it ought not to be easily believed that a Christian is or can be guilty of it for Heresie is a Renunciation of our Salvation a Rejection of the Grace of God and a departure from the Body and Spirit of Christ But this was ever the Custom and Usage of them and of their Fore-fathers that if any presumed to complain of their Errors and desired the Reformation of Religion they condemn'd them forthwith for Hereticks as Innovators and factious men Christ himself was call'd a Samaritan for no other cause but for that they thought he had made a defection to a new Religion or Heresie And St. Paul the Apostle being call'd in question was accused of Heresie to which he replied After the Way which they call Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets 14. In short all that Religion which we Christians now profess in the beginning of Christianity was by the Pagans call'd a Sect or Heresie with these words they fill'd the ears of Princes that when out of prejudice they had once possessed their minds with an Aversion for us and that they were perswaded that whatever we said was Factious and Heretical they might be diverted from reflecting upon the thing it self or ever hearing or considering the Cause but by how much the greater and more grievous this Crime is so much the rather ought it to be proved by clear and strong Arguments especially at this time because men begin now adays a little to distrust the Fidelity of their Oracles and to inquire into their Doctrine with much greater industry than has heretofore been imployed for the People of God in this Age are quite of another Disposition than they were heretofore when all the Responses and Dictates of the Popes of Rome were taken for Gospel and all Religion depended upon their Authority the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of the Apostles and Prophets are every where now to be had out of which all the true and Catholick Doctrine may be proved and all Heresies may be refuted 15. BUT seeing they can produce nothing out of the Scriptures against us it is very injurious and cruel to call us Hereticks who have not revolted from Christ nor from the Apostles nor from the Prophets By the Sword of Scripture Christ overcame the Devil when he was Tempted by him with these Weapons every high thing that exalteth it self against God is to be brought down and dispersed for all Scripture saith St. Paul is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction that the Man of God may be perfect and throughly furnished unto all good Works and accordingly the Holy Fathers have never fought against Hereticks with any other Arms than what the Scriptures have afforded them St. Augustin when he disputed against Petilianus a Donatist Heretick useth these words Let not saith he these words be heard I say or thou sayest but rather let us say thus saith the Lord let us seek the Church there let us judge of our Cause by that And St. Jerom saith Let whatever is pretended to be delivered by the Apostles and cannot be proved by the Testimony of the writen Word be struck with the Sword of God And St. Ambrose to the Emperor Gratian Let the Scriptures saith he let the Apostles let the Prophets let Christ be interrogated The Catholick Fathers and Bishops of those times did not doubt but our Religion might be sufficiently proved by Scripture nor durst they esteem any man an Heretick whose Error they could not perspicuously and clearly prove such by Scripture And as to us we may truly reply with St. Paul After the way which they call HERESIE so worship I the God of my Fathers believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets or the Writings of the Apostles 16. IF therefore we be Hereticks and they as they desire to be call'd be Catholicks why do they not do what they see the Fathers and all other Catholicks have done why do they not convince us out of the Holy Scriptures why do they not try us by them why do they not shew that we have made a defection from Christ from the Prophets from the Apostles and from the Holy Fathers Why do they stand Why do they draw back It is the Cause of God Why then should they fear to commit it to the Arbitriment of the Word of God But if we are Hereticks who submit all ouâ— Controversies to the Holy Scriptures and appeal to those very Words which we know were consigned to writing by God himself and prefer them before all other things which can possibly be excogitated by the Wit of Man what are they or by what Name shall they be call'd who fear and shun the Sentence of the Scriptures that is the Judgment of God himself and prefer their own Dreams and silly Inventions before them and have for some Ages violated the Institutions of Christ and his Apostles for the sake of their Traditions There is a Story of Sophocles the Tragedian that when he was very old he was accused before the Judges by his own Sons for a childish and a silly Person as one that had wasted his Estate by ill managery and stood in need of a Guardian in his old Age to take care of him and it the old Man appeared in Court and instead of a Deâ—ence recied a Tragedy which he had very elaborately and elegantly written just in that time the Suit was depending and thereupon asked the Judges if that Poem were the Work of a childish person 16.
pretend we have recall'd from the bottom of Hell and pronounce the Arrians Eutichians Marcionites Ebionites the Valentinians Carpocratians Tatians and Novatians and in one word all those who have thought impiously either of God the Father or of Christ or of the Holy Ghost or of any other part of the Christian Religion all these I say because they are convicted by the Gospel of Christ we pronounce them wicked and lost men and detest them to the Gates of Hell and not only so but if any of those Heresies happen to break out anew amongst us we severely and seriously correct the Revivers of them with lawful and civil Punishments 3. We confess that upon the beginning of the Reformation there arose some new and unheard of Sects as Anabaptists Libertines Menonians and Zwenkfeldians but we render our unfeigned Thanks to God that the World is now well satisfied that we neither brought forth nor taught nor maintained those Monsters Whoever thou art who thinkest otherwise be pleased to read our Books which are every where to be had What is there in them that can fairly be taken to favour the madness of these People Yea there are at this day no Nations so free from these Pests as those in which the Gospel is freely taught Now if they would rightly and attentively consider this thing it is a strong-Argument that the Doctrine we teach is the very truth of the Gospel for neither Tares nor Chaff use to spring up or be found but in Corn. And who knows not what a number of Heresies arose when the Gospel was first propagated in the World in the Times of the very Apostles Who before these Times ever heard of Simon Magus Menander Saturninus Basilides Corpocrates Cerinthus Ebion Valentinus Secundus Marcosius Colorbasius Heracleo Lucian and Severus But why should I mention this contemptible Number Epiphanius reckons LXXX and St. Augustin more distinct Heresies which grew up with the Gospel What then was not the Gospel the Gospel because together with it so many Heresies were produced or shall we therefore say that Christ was not Christ 4. AND yet as I said this cursed Crop has not sprung up in our Fields where the Gospel is freely preached and publickly received and setled Those Plagues have had their Rise in the darkness and blindness of our Adversaries and with them too they have encreased and spread themselves where the Truth is oppressed with Tyranny and Cruelty nor are these things to be heard of any where but in Corners and Conventicles Let them make a Tryal let them grant the Gospel its free Course let the Truth of Jesus Christ freely shine and extend its Rays to all Parts without hindrance and they shall soon see that as the Darkness of the Night vanisheth at the approach of the Sun so will these Shadows disappear before the Light of the Gospel For as for us we daily make it our business to repel and confute these Heresies which we are falsly reported to nourish and encourage whilst our adversaries sit still and mind nothing less 5. AND whereas they say we are divided into divers Sects and that some of us have taken the Names of Lutherans and others of Zuinglians or Calvinists and we could never yet agree amongst our selves concerning the Articles of our Doctrines What would they have said if they had lived in the Times of the Apostles and Holy Fathers When one said I am of Paul another I am of Cephas and another I am of Apollo when St. Paul reprehended St. Peter when by reason of a Quarrel Paul and Barnabas separated one from the other and went several ways when as Origen acquaints us the Christians were divided into so many Factions that they had no Name common to them but that of Christian and they agreed in nothing else but that Nane and as Socrates informs us they were derided publickly in the Theaters by the People for their Dissentions and Sects and when as Constantine the Great said there was so many Contentions and Controversies in the Church that this very single Calamity seem'd to exceed the Miseries of the former times of Persecution when Theophilus Epiphanius Chrysostom Augustin Ruffinus and St. Jerome all of them Christians all Fathers and all Catholicks contested each others with most violent and implacable Animosities when as Nazianzen saith the Members of the same Body consumed one another when the Eastern and Western Churches contended about Leavened Bread and the time of keeping Easter things of no mighty consequence when in every Council which were then numerous there was a new Creed and new and contrary Decrees minted What would these men have then said to whom would they have applied themselves from whom would they have fled in what Gospel would they have believed whom would they have esteemed Catholicks and whom Hereticks Now there are only two Names Luther and Zuinglius and what a Noise is made about them But because these two could not agree about some Points shall we therefore think they are both in the wrong that neither of them has the Gospel and that neither has preached well and truly 6. BUT O good God! who are they that so bitterly reflect on us for our Dissentions Do they in the mean time all agree amongst themselves Have there never been any Dissensions and Controversies amongst them Why then do the Scotists and Thomists agree no better concerning the Merit of Congruity and that of Condignity concerning Original Sin in the Virgin Mary and about a solemn and simple Vow Why do the Canonists affirm that Auricular Confession is founded in Humane and Positive Laws and the Schoolmen on the contrary on Divine Institution Why does Albertus Pighius differ from Cajetan Thomas from Lombard Scotus from Thomas Occham from Scotus Alliacensis from Occham and the Nominalls from the Reallists and that I may not mention the Disagreements of the small Brotherhoods and Monks some of which place their admired Sanctity in eating of Fish others in living upon Herbs some in wearing of Shooes others in Sandals some in Linnen Garments and others in Woollen some in black and some in white Cloaths some shave their Heads broad and others narrow some wear Shooes and others go barefoot some are girded and some go loose besides these they should remember that some of their Divines say that the Body of Christ is naturally present in the Sacrament which is again denied by others that then there are some who say that the Body of Christ in the Sacrament is torn and ground with our Teeth and again there are others who deny this there are some who say that the Body in the Sacrament hath quantity others deny it some say Christ did consecrate by a cortain Divine Power others that he did it by his Blessing some that he did it by conceiving the five Words in his Mind others that it was by uttering them there be some that say that of these five Words the
demonstrative Pronoun THIS shewed the Wheaten Bread others say no but it relates to a certain Individuum vagum a no Man knows what there be some who say Dogs and Mice may truly and really eat the Body of Christ but then there are others who stoutly deny this there be some who say the Accidents of the Bread and Wine can nourish and others say the Substance returns again But why should I add any more It is a long and troublesome Business to count up all their Divisions the whole Form of this Religion and Doctrine is to this day controverted and uncertain amongst them who first gave being and entertainment to it for they scarce ever agree except it be as the Pharisees and Saducees or as Herod and Pilate did of old against Christ 7. LET them go then and put an end to their own Quarrels Vnity and Agreement do excellently become Religion yet it is no certain and proper sign of the Church of God for there was a wonderful Agreement amongst them who worshipped the Golden Calf and amongst those who with one Voice cried out against our Saviour Crucifie him crucifie him Nor are we presently to determine because there was some Dissentions in the Church of Corinth or because St. Paul differed with St. Peter or Barnabas with St. Paul or that the Christians in the Infancy of the Church disagreed amongst themselves concerning some things that therefore there was no Church of God amongst them Those very men whom they contemptuously call Lutherans and Zuinglians are both of them Christians and Friends each to others and Brethren they do not disagree about the Principles and Foundations of our Religion concerning God or Christ or the Holy Ghost not concerning the manner of our Justification or of eternal Life it is only about one Point and that of no great consequence nor do we despair or rather we do not so much as doubt but that in a small time an Agreement will be made betwixt them and tho there are some who now think otherwise than they ought we hope that laying aside all Passions and Factious Names and Reproaches God will reveal to them what they now know not and having better considered and searched into the thing as it happened heretofore in the Council of Calcedon all the Causes and Fibers of Dissentions shall be pluck'd up by the Roots and buried in eternal Oblivion Amen 8. BUT the most insufferable of all their Slanders is their Pretence that we are impious Men and have cast off all care of Religion But this is the less to be regarded because they who make this Objection do themselves know that it is contumelious and false And Justin Martyr writes also that when the Gospel was first published and the Name of Christ discovered to the World that all Christians were then stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Men without a God or Atheists And when the Holy Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna stood before the Tribunal the Rabble incited the Proconsul to the Slaughter and Destruction of all those who professed the Gospel with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is exterminate out of the World those wicked men who have no God Not that the Christians had indeed no God but because they would not adore the Stones and Blocks which were then worshipped as Gods But the World now sees plainly what we and ours have suffered from them for the Sake of God and our Religion They have cast us into Goals and Fire and Water and have rol'd themselves in our Bloods not because we are Adulterers or Thieves or Murtherers but purely because we imbrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ and put our whole Trust only in the living God and O good God! because we truly and justly complain that they have for their most impertinent Traditions violated the Laws of God and that these Enemies of ours who knowingly and willingly despise the Commandments of God are the haters of the Gospel and the Enemies of the Cross of Christ 9. NOW these Men when they saw they could six no Slanders upon our Doctrine then they began to declaim against our Manners that we hated all good Works that we made way for Disorder and Luxury and did drive the People off from all Care and Exercise of Virtue And certainly the Lives of all Men even those of the most Holy and Christian Men now are and ever were even in the best and most chast state of things liable to some exceptions on that account and such is the Propensity of men to do Ill on the one side and the Proneness of all to Suspition on the other that many things which were never done nor thought of have yet been pretended to be heard and have obtained a Belief too and as a small Spot is easily seen in a very white Garment so in the purest course of Life the slightest Note of Turpitude or disorder is easily taken notice of Nor do we think our selves or all those who have imbraced the Reformation to be Angels and to live without the least Speck or Unevenness or that those who hate us are so blind that they cannot observe whatever is blameable in us even through the smallest Chink or that they are so candid as that they will put a mild Sense upon any thing or so ingenious that they will at any time turn their Eyes upon themselves and estimate or compare our Manners with their own But then if we should here run the thing up to the Fountains head we know that in the Apostles times there were Christians who made the Name of God to be blasphem'd and evil spoken of amongst the Gentiles 10. CONSTANTIUS the Emperor complains in Sozomen that many after they entered the Christian Church became worse than they were before And St. Cyprian in a mournful Oration describes the Corruptions of his own times Ease and a long Peace saith he had destroyed that Discipline which the Apostles delivered to us Men were intent upon the enlarging their Estates and forgetting what Believers did under the Apostles and what they ever ought to do they applied themselves with an insatiable Appetite to the Improvement of their Fortunes There is not now that devout Piety in the Priests that sincere Faith in the Ministers that Compassion in Works of Mercy that Restraint in Mens Manners Men colour their Beards and Women paint their Faces And before him Tertullian O wo to us who are now call'd Christians for we live the Lives of Heathens under that venerable Title 11. To conclude and not to trouble the Reader with many Authors Gregory Nazianzen speaks thus of the deplorable State of his own times We are said he hated by the Heathens now for our Vices and we are made a Spectacle not only to Men and Angels but to the wickedest of Men. This was the State of the Church of God when the Light of the Gospel began first to shine upon it when the Fury of Tyrants was
Princes are to be obeyed as Men sent by God and whosoever resists them resists the Ordinance of God These are our Doctrines these Principles shine forth in our Books in our Sermons in our Lives and in the Modesty and dutiful behaviour of our People 18. AND whereas they pretend we have departed from the Uuity of the Catholick Church this is not only odious but tho it is not true yet it hath an appearance and similitude of Truth in it But then not only those things which are true and certain find belief with the ignorant Multitude but those things also which may seem probable and so we shall ever observe that crafty cunning Men who had not the Truth on their sides have ever maintained their Cause with the Resemblances of Truth that those who could not dive into the bottom of things might be taken at least with the shew and probability of their Arguments Because the Primitive Christians our Fore-fathers when they Prayed to God turned their Faces toward the rising Sun there were some that said they worshiped the Sun and that it was their GOD and because they said that as to their eternal and immortal Life they lived on nothing but the Flesh and Blood of the Lamb without spot meaning thereby our Saviour Jesus Christ Envious Men the Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose only business it was to render the Christian Religion by any means hateful did thereupon perswade the People that the Christians were impious Men that they offered Humane Sacrifices and drank Mans Blood and when the Christians said with God there is neither Male nor Female that is that as to the obtaining of Justification there is no distinction of Persons and did salute one another commonly by the Names of Brother and Sister there were not wanting some who slandered the Christians thereupon and said they made no distinction amongst them of Sex or Age but like Beasts promiscuously lay together And when they met frequently in Vaults and secret places to Pray and hear the Gospel which sort of private Places and Meetings had sometimes been made use of by Conspirators against the Government there was thereupon a Rumor spread abroad that they conspired together and had secret Consultations about murthering the Magistrates and subverting the Government And because in celebrating the Holy Communion they made use of Bread and Wine according to the Institution of Christ they were thought by many not to worship Christ but Bacchus and Ceres because those heathen Deities were worshiped by the Pagans with a like Rite with Bread and Wine These things were then believed by many not because they were true for what could possibly be less so but because they had a kind of resemblance of Truth and by that shew of truth were fitted to deceive them 18. SO they traduce us and say that as Hereticks we have departed from the Unity of the Catholick Church and the Communion of Christ not that they believe this to be true nor are they at all concern'd whether it be true or false but because the thing may in some sort seem true to ignorant Men for we have indeed departed not as Hereticks ever have done from the Church of Christ but as good men ought to do from the Contagion of wicked Men and Hypocrites and yet here they insult wonderfully that theirs is the Church the Spouse of Christ the Pillar of Truth the Ark of Noah out of which no Salvation is to be hoped for and in the interim they assert with the same Confidence that we have revolted that we have rent the Coat of Christ and torn our selves from his Body and made a desection from the Catholick Faith And when they have thus left nothing unsaid which can possibly be tho never so falsly and slanderously objected against us yet at last they cannot pretend that we have forsaken the Word of God or the Apostles of Christ or the Primitive Church 19. NOW we have ever thought that the Primitive Church which was in the times of Christ and the Apostles and holy Fathers was the Catholick Church Nor do we doubt but that that Church is the Ark of Noah the Spouse of Christ the Pillar and Foundation of Truth or to place in it all the Hopes of our Salvation It is indeed an odious thing to break off and depart from that Society a Man has long lived in especially if that Society consist of Men who seem to be and are therefore called Christians tho in truth they are none And in reality we do not so contemn their Church as bad as it now is for the Name sake and 〈◊〉 Gospel of Jesus Christ was once truly and purely taught there as that we have willingly departed from it without necessity But what if an Idol be set up in the Church of God and that Desolation appears there which Christ foretold should stand in the holy Place What if some Pirate or Robber possesseth himself of the Ark of Noah certainly as often as these men thus preach to us of the Church they make themselves only to be that Church and ascribe all those glorious Titles to themselves and triumph like those of Old who cryed The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord or like the Scribes and Pharisees when they boasted they were the Children of Abraham 20. THUS do they impose upon silly men by vain and useless Shews and seeâ— to overwhelm us with the meer Name of thâ— Church just as if a Thief having got poâ—â—session of another mans House and havinâ— by force expell'd or slain the true Owneâ— should afterwards claim it as his own anâ— keep the true Heir out or as if Antichrisâ— after he has seized the Temple of Godâ— should afterwards pretend it were his owâ— and that Christ had no right to it For theâ— our Adversaries have left almost nothing liâ— a Church in the Church of God yet theâ— will needs seem the only Patrons and Defeâ—â—ders of the Church just as Gracchus defendeâ— the Roman Exchequer by making such profuse Largesses and such unreasonable Expenses that he quite ruined the Publick Treasury But then there was never any thing yet so absurd or wicked but it might seem easie to be covered and defended by the Name of the Church for Wasps make Combs and impious Men have their Assemblies not much unlike the Churches But they are not presently the People of God who are call'd so nor are they all Israelites who are of Israel The Arrian Hereticks boasted that they only were Catholicks and they call'd all the rest sometimes Ambrosians and at other Athanasians and Johannites And Theodoret tells us that tho Nestorius was an Heretick yet he covered himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Pretence and Cloak of the Orthodox Faith Ebion tho he was of the same Opinion with the Samaritans yet as Epiphaâ—es assures us he would needs be call'd a â—â—hristian The Mahometans at this day tho â—t
might thereby reap some benefit by it but they that the People may never understand them whisper their Divine Service not only in an obscure and low Tone but also in a strange and barbarous Tongue 10. The old Carthagenian Council forbad any thing besides the Canonical Scriptures to be read in the holy Assemblies of the Church but they read in their Churches what they themselves do not doubt to be meer Lyes and silly Fables And now if any man thinks these things are of no great consideration because they were decreed by Emperors and small Councils consisting of Bishops of less esteem and not in full Councils and therefore are more fond of the Authority and Names of Popes 11. Julius expresly forbad the Priest in the Celebration of the holy Communion to dip the Bread in the Calice but they contrary to this Decree do divide the Bread and dip it 12. Clemens the Pope saith it is not lawful for a Bishop to bear both the Spiritual and Civil Swords and saith he if thou wilt have both thou deceivest thy self and those that hear thee but now the Pope claims both and bears both and therefore the Wonder ought to seem the less if that hath followed which Clement foretold and he hath accordingly deceived himself and those which have heard him 13. Pope Leo saith it is not lawful to celebrate more than one Mass in one Day in one Church they say every day sometimes ten at others twenty and at other thirty and sometimes more in the same Church at the same time so that the miserable Spectator knows not which way to turn him 14. Gelasius the Pope saith that if any man divide the Sacrament and when he has received one part refuseth the other he doth act Wickedly and Sacrilegiously but they contrary to the Word of God and the Decree of this Pope command only one part of the Eucharist to be given to the People and by so doing have made their Priests guilty of Sacriledge 6. BUT now if they shall pretend that all these things are antiquated and worn out of use and so are in a sort dead and do not concern our times yet that men may see what Faith is to be given to these Men and with what Hope they call Councils let us consider in a few instances how well they observe those things which have been ordained of late years and which are fresh in Memory by Councils which they pretend were lawfully called and in which they themselves decreed those things I shall mention to be Religiously observed In the last Council of Trent not much above fourteen years since it was decreed by the common Vote of all Orders there present that two Benefices should not be committed at one time to the same Person Where is that Sanction now Is that so soon antiquated and dead too for they do frequently give not only two Benefices but sometimes also several Monasteries too and sometimes two three or four Bishopricks to one Man and he too sometimes not only unlearned and consequently thereby unfit for them but a Soldier In the same Council it was decreed that all Bishops ought to preach the Gospel but they never Preach nor ever come in a Pulpit nor do they think it in the least any part of their Duty What then is the meaning of all that shew of Antiquity Why do they glory so in the Names of the Fathers and of the ancient and modern Councils Why would they so fain seem to rely upon their Authority whom as occasion serve at their Pleasure they despise 7. BUT I have a great desire to have a little discourse with the Pope himself and to tell him some things to his Face Be pleased then O Holy Father who so often boastest of Antiquity and pretendest that all the Ancients are intirely addicted to thy Service to inform us which of all the ancient Fathers ever call'd your Holiness the chief Pontif or the Universal Bishop or the Head of the Church Which of them ever said that both the Swords were given to thee Which of them ever said that you have the Right and Authority to call Councils that the whole World was your Diocess Which of them ever said that all Bishops had received of your Fulness That all Power both iâ— Heaven and Earth was given to you That you could not be judged by Kings nor by the whole Clergy nor by all the Peopleâ— Which of them ever said that Kings and Emperors by the Command and will of Christ derived Authority from you Which of them ever affirmed with a Mathematical Exactnesâ— and Certainty that your Authority was preâ—cisely seventy seven times greater than that oâ— the greatest Kings Which of them ever saiâ— that you had a greater power than the otheâ— Patriarchs Which of them ever said you werâ— the Lord God or not a meer Man like otheâ— Mortals or stiled you a certain Hotch-potch a Mixture or Concrete of God and Manâ— which of them ever said that you were thâ— fountain of all Law that you had an Empireâ— and Dominion over Purgatory and that yoâ— might at your pleasure command the Angels of God Which of them ever said that you were King of Kings and Lord of Lords And now we are in we may inquire of a fow other things of the same Nature What one Man of all the ancient Bishops and Fathers ever taught you to say a private Mass whilst the People did nothing but look on or to lift the Eucharist above your Head in which you now place all your Religion or to curtail the Sacrament of Christ and contrary to his Institution and express Command to deprive the People of one half of it And that we may conclude what one of all the ancient Fathers taught you to dispence the Blood of Christ and the Merits of the Martyrs and to sell your Indulgences and all the Apartments and Lodgings of Purgatory like Commodities in the Market for Money They are wont often to celebrate their own wonderful secret Learning and their manifold and various Readings Now let your Partizans at last produce something of it if they can or let them at least shew they have read and do know more than or dinary for they have often made hideous Outcries amongst their Hearers that all the parts of their Religion are ancient and approved not only by the number but also by the Continuance and Consent of all Nations and Times 8. WELL then let them at least shew this their boasted Antiquity let them make it appear that what they so much extol is indeed of so vast an Extent let them prove that all Christian Nations have imbraced their Religion But alass as I said before they flee from their own Decrees and have already pluckt up those Canons which but a very few years since they made to last for ever Why then should we trust them in relation to what they pretend concerning the Fathers the
God to its ancient Purity Why do they presently make an Out-cry that these Princes disturb all things break in upon other Mens Offices and do act ill things and immodestly What Scripture I pray hath excluded Christian Princes from hearing these Causes Who besides these Men ever decreed any such Laws But they will reply that Civil Princes have learned to govern their States and to manage Arms but they understand nothing of the Mysteries of Religion And now what is the Pope at this day but a Monarch or Prince and what are the Cardinals who are now scarcely suffered to be any other but the Children of Kings and Princes What are the Patriarchs and for the most part the Arch-bishops Bishops and Abbots others than Princes Dukes and Earls in the Papal Kingdom and accordingly whithersoever they go they aâ—â— attended with a great Retinue and adorned with Chains and Collers of Gold and otâ—â—â— Ensignes of Honour And they have sometimes also a peculiar Habit belonging to them as Crosses Pillars Hats Myters and Palls which Pomp the ancient Bishops St. Chrysostom St. Ambrose and St. Augustin were not acquainted with but then excepting these outward Ornaments what do they teach what do they speak what do they do and what do they Live so as becomes I will not say a Bishop but a common Christian Is it then of so mighty a Consequence to go under this or that Title and by changing nothing but a Mans Cloaths to be called a Bishop 9. CERTAINLY it is a proud injurious and unjust thing and not to be born by Christian and Prudent Princes to permit the summ of all that concerns Religion to be managed by such Men as these alone who know nothing of the Mysteries of Religion nor care to know any thing more than what belongs to their Bellies and Kitchins and do not value any thing of Religion as worth aâ—rush who are no better than blind men placed in a Watch-tower and that in the interim a Christan and a Catholick Prince should stand like a trunk or a stock and without vote and without giving his judgment only observe what they are pleased to command and impose upon him and as if he had neither Ears nor Eyes nor Mind nor Heart of his own to receive without Exception and with a blind-fold submission do whatever they are pleased to command him altho they are Blasphemous and wicked things yea altho they should command him to extinguish all Religion and to crucisie his Saviour For why Can Caiphas and Annas judge well of Matters of Religion and cannot David and Ezechias Is it lawful for a Cardinal a Martial and a bloody Man to sit in a Council and is it unlawful for an Emperour and a Christian Prince For we attribute nothing more to our Princes than what is allowed them by the Word of God and approved by the Examples of the best Governments For besides that the care of both Tables is committed by God to a Faithful Prince that he may thereby understand that not only the Civil but the Ecclesiastical Polity belongs to him and his Office And besides all this God hath often expresly commanded Princes to cut down the Groves and overthrow the Statues and Altars of Idols to transcribe for himself a Book of the Law and Isaiah saith that Kings should be nursing Fathers to the Church and their Queens her nursing Mothers Besides all these things I say we see by Histories and the Examples of the best times that Pious Princes did never think the Administration of Ecclesiastical Affairs a thing that was foreign to their Duty 10. MOS ES who was the Civil Magistrate and Leader of the People received from GOD the whole Body of their Religion and the Order of their Sacred Rites and delivered them to the People and severely and sharply chastised Aaron their Bishop for making the Golden Calf and violating the Religion by Law established And Ioshua tho he were no other than a Civil Magistrate yet when he was first inaugurated and set over the People he received express Commands concerning Religion and the Worship of God David the King when their Religion had been miserably disordered by Saul a wicked King brought back the Ark of God that is restored Religion And he was not only present as an Admonisher or Perswader of the Work but he published Psalms and Hymns disposed the Priests and Levites into Classes and Orders and in a sort governed the Priests as a Priest Salomon the King built a Temple to the Lord which his Father David had only designed in his thoughts and after made an excellent Oration to the People concerning Religion and the Worship of God And after this he removed Abiathar the High Priest and substituted Sadoc in his place And when after this the Temple was wretchedly ruined by the Vice and Negligence of the Priests Ezechias the King commanded it to be cleansed of its Rubbish and Dirt the Lamps to be lighted Incense to be offered and the Sacred Rites to be performed according to the ancient Order And caused the Brazen Serpent that was then irreligiously worshipped by the People to be taken away and reduced to Dust Iosaphat the King overthrew and took away all the High Places and destroyed the Groves by which he perceived the Worship of God was hindered and the People by a Private Superstition diverted from attending the Service of God in the publick and common Temple to which they were bound to go three times in the Year out of all Parts of his Kingdom Iosias another King diligently admonished the Priests and Bishops of their duty Jods the King repressed the Luxury and Iâ—â—olence of the Priests Jehu slew the wicked false Propliets And that I may trouble the Reader with no more Examples out of the Scriptures and rather pass to see and consider how the Church has been governed since the Birth of Christ and the Publishing of the Gospel Heretofore Christian Emperors called Councils of the Bishops Constantinus called the Nicene Council Theodosius the First the Constantinâ— stantinopolitan Theodosius the Second the Ephesian Martianus the Chalcedonian and when Ruffinus had alledged a Synod as making for him his Adversary St. Jerome that he might confute him replyed Tell us what Emperor commanded it to be assembled And he also in his Funeral Oration for Paula a Roman Lady cites the Letters of the Emperors who had commanded the Greek and Roman Bishops to meet at Rome for the holding of a Council 11. IT is most certain that for Five hundred Years the Emperor alone took care of calling all the General Councils and Sacred Meetings and therefore we do now the more admire the unreasonableness of the Bishop of Rome who tho he knows that during the subsistence of the Roman Empire in its Greatness this was the sole right of the Emperor and that now Kings have succeeded to part of the Caesarean or Imperial Majesty this
the Emperor it was then thought a sufficient Excuse that they must attend the Reformation and Care of their own Churches tho they saw that the Arrians then prevail'd every where and that their Presence might have been of a mighty consequence for the abating their Rage 11. WHAT if our Bishops should now make the same Answers that they can spare no time from the sacred Ministry that they are totally taken up in restoring and reforming their Churches that they cannot be spared from home five six or seven years and especially in that place where they can do no good for our Bishops have not the same leisure with those who luxuriously spend their time in Palaces at Rome and depend upon the Cardinals and lye at the catch for rich Preferments for our Churches are so miserably ruin'd and perverted by the ill Management of these men that it is neither a small time nor an ordinary Diligence that can reform them And now we see plainly that they design a Diversion and mis-spending of our times that when there is no need of it we may be drawn from Home and so may neither promote the Reformation at Home nor be suffered by them to do it in the Council 12. For the Pope indeed does but dissemble with the World that you may not be deluded he intends no Council nor are you to think that he acts any thing sincerely and truly He that knows not how to dissemble said Lewis the 11th to Charles the 8th his Successor knows not how to Reign And much more he that knows not how to dissemble and conceal his Counsels under the Gravity of his Looks as things go now will never be able to act the part of a Pope for that See is supported meerly by Hypocrisie and is forced to supply the Defects of a natural Strength with pretended Colours and Shews For if the Popes did indeed think that a General Council was of such wonderful efficacy for the suppressing Schisms why did they so very long delay so necessary a means of it Why did they sit still thirty years and suffer Luthers Doctrine to take root Why did they not presently call a Council Why did they at last call the Council of Trent with great unwillingness and reluctancy and more by the Impulse of Charles the Emperor than by their own free Wills and when the Council had sit almost ten years at Trent why after so tedious a Consultation was nothing brought to an Issue Why did they leave their Business undone Who hindred them Who withstood them Believe me in this my Brother the Pope has no design now that a Council should meet or Religion be reform'd which they perfectly despise All their Business Desires and Contentions aim at nothing but the deluding the Minds of Religious Men and the whole World with the Expectation of a General Council 13. THEY see long since that their Revenues are diminished and ruin'd that their Arts have not the same success they have had heretofore that an Incredible number of men do every day fall off from them there is not now that vast concourse of People to Rome men do neither esteem nor purchase their Indulgences Interdictions Benedictions Absolutions and vain Bulls at the Rate they have done the Sales of their Ceremonies and Masses and all that Whorish Paint is not much valued so that a very great part of their Pomp and Tyranny is fallen their Incoms reduced to a lower Ebb than ever they and their Partizans are become the Scorn of Children so that now their whole Concern is at the Stake Nor is there any wonder that those things should fall which were supported by no roots Our Saviour JESUS CHRIST hath put an end to them not by Arms or the force of Soldiers but by an Heavenly Impulse and the Breath of his mouth and he will intirely consume and abolish them by the brightness of his coming such is the force of the Word of God the Power of the Gospel and these are the Weapons which will bring down every high thing which is built up or exalted against the Knowledge of God This Doctrine shall be preached in spite of all throughout the World and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it the Merit-mongers Shops at Rome do now lye desolate their Wares Like the Goods of Porsenna are cried at a low price and there is scarce any to buy them a poor Dealer in Indulgences does now wander about and rarely finds a Fool that will purchase one This Sir is the great Concern from hence spring the Papal Tears and Cares they see this Light sprung out of one small Spark and what now may be the Event when there are so many Fires kindled every where on the Earth and so many Christian Kings and Princes own and prosess the Gospel for these men do no serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies There goes a Story that when Carneades the Philosopher was at Rome and made that memorable Oration against Justice amongst other things he added this That this Virtue if it was a Virtue was not of less use to any part of Mankind than to the Romans for they by Force and Stealth had subdued those Kingdoms to themselves which of right belonged to other men and by a most flagrant Injustice had arrived to the Empire of the World and that if now they should fall to the Exercise of Justice all these must be restored to the right owners which they possess'd so unjustly and so they should be reduced to their Shepherds Cottages and poor cold Sheds which was all they had at first And so now these if they should lay aside their Dissimulation and act sincerely and do their Duty and give every one what was truly their own they must then return to the Staff and Scrip again to Sobriety and Modesty to the Labours and Duty of a Bishop for they have heard what St. Augustin said Bishop is a Name of Labour and not of Honour and that they were no Bishops who sought more to be over the People than to do them good and therefore they see that the spreading of the Gospel is of less advantage to them than to any other men in the World for if ever they should entertain a thought of reforming they are undone and therefore now they fill the World with Tumults and Disorders as Demetrius the Silver-Smith heretofore did when he saw his Trade was going down And this is the true cause why Councils are now call'd and the Bishops and Abbots are assembled for this seems now the cunningest way to prolong the time for some few years by suspending the minds of men with Expectation and in the interim many things as is usual may happen a War may break out some of the Princes may dye and the strange Inclinations of Men towards the Reformation may be blunted by delays and languish by degrees and in the mean time as one said I hope something will be done 14.
OF old when the Athenians after they had beaten the Persians out of Greece began to rebuild their Walls which they themselves had levell'd with the Ground during the War And the Lacedemonians that they might still have the Athenians at their Mercy did severely prohibit them not to do it Themistocles the General of the Athenians promised that he would go to Lacedemon and deliberate with them about this Business and accordingly when he had began his Journey that he might gain time first he pretended a Sickness that he might stay a while by the way and when at last he got to Lacedemon he began one Delay after another one while the Articles did not please him another while he must consider of them a while now he must stay for his fellow Ambassadors without whom he could do nothing and soon after he must send Messengers to Athens to know their Pleasures and in the interim whilst he was spinning out the time the Athenians fortified their City that in case any Force were imployed against them they might be in a condition to repel it and just thus our Adversaries by gaining one day after another and pretending to refer all thins to a Council in the mean time build their own Walls whilst we sit still and expect I know not what Wonders from them and in the end when they have taken their Measures and put their Affairs out of danger then they will shut us out of doors and tell us that no Council can be held nor any thing else done 15. FOR it is worth the while to consider their Arts and Stratagems how often have Councils been call'd and yet have not met how often has a small flying Rumour defeated all their Preparations and other mens Expectations How often have the Purple Dons slipt home without doing any thing and adjourn'd the next Session to the ninth or tenth year How often has the Weather Provisions the Place or the Time not suited with their Humors For the Pope alone calls the Councils and dismisseth them when he will if any thing doth not please him or things begin to go cross to his Interest presently you hear his Valete Plaudite Clap your Hands and farewell A Council was call'd at Basil great numbers assembled from all Places many things were seriously debated Pope Eugenius is condemn'd as an Heretick and a Simonaical Prelate by all the Votes and Amideus Duke of Savoy substituted in his place Eugenius as he had reason takes this ill as a thing of bad example to Posterity his Power being very much above all Councils no Council can meet said he but by his Order nor determine any thing against his Will therefore it is a lewd thing to search into his Life in a Conventicle of Bishops So without delay he calls the Council first to Ferrara in Italy and then translates it to Florence What is the matter I pray did Pope Eugenius think the change of Air would produce a change in their Minds or that the Holy Ghost would give Answers more wisely in Italy than he had in Germany No he did not seek Christ in all his Changes but his own dear Interest he saw that in Germany Sigismund the Emperor was his Enemy and that his authority and the Favour he had there was too great and he thought that if these Fathers were transplanted from those cold Climates into Italy they might like trees removed become more mild and their Fruit more pleasant for O immortal God! that is not now any part of the Business of a Council to find out the Truth or suppress Falshood the only Business of Popes in Councils in these latter Ages has been the confirming the Roman Tyranny the promoting Wars the imbroiling the Christian Princes and engaging them one against another the Levying Mony sometimes for Expeditions into the Holy Land at other times for the building St. Peters Church sometimes for I know not what other Uses or rather Abuses which all tended to promote the Luxury and Lusts of a few ill men and these were the only Aims of all the late Councils for as for the Errors and Abuses as if there had been none nothing could ever be handled 16. Petrus Alliacensis complain'd much in the Council of Constance concerning the Avarice and Insolence of the Court of Rome But what did he gain by it What part of their Avarice or Insolence was ever restrain'd by the Authority of any Council and he moved too that the number of Holy Days and the Herds of lazy Monks might be diminished and another in a certain Work which is call'd the Tripartite and is put in the end of the Council of Laterane saith that the whole World is scandalized and speaks against the vast Multitude of begging Fryars and the Fathers in that Laterane Council say We command all men streightly for time to come not to invent any more new Religious Orders From these times to ours what has been done concerning Holy Days I know not but it is highly probable there hath been no diminution of them but the Order of Monks hath been infinitely encreased for the late Popes have added the Jesuits the Capuchins and the Theatins as if we had not had before a sufficient Swarm of Idle â—ellies John Gerson Chancellor of Paris offered to the Fathers of the Council of Constance a Catalogue of LXXV Abuses in the Church of Rome which he earnestly desired might be reformed but now of so great a number what one Abuse have they since reformed Johannes Picus Mirandula writes to Pope Leo that he would diminish the number of vain Ceremonies and curb the Luxury of the Priests After this a great number of Bishops met in the Laterane Council with a mighty expectation of the whole World but what one Ceremony did they cut off What one Priest did they punish for Luxury and Wickendess the Poet Mantuan complained by name of the Manners of the Church of Rome St. Bernard the Abbot wrote thus to Eugenius the Pope your Court sometimes receives good Men but it makes none the bad do there thrive the good are ruin'd And concerning the miserable state in which the Church then was he writes that from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot there is no soundness And again where is he that preacheth the acceptable year of the Lord they do not saith he in these times keep but corrupt the Spouse of Christ they do not keep but kill and devour the Lords Flock Pope Adrian the VI. when he sent his Legate into Germany did ingeniously and truly confess that the state of the whole Clergy was extreamly corrupt all we the Ecclesiastical Prelates saith he have declined every one into his way and there is not now one that doth good no not one Albertus Pighius confesseth that in the very Mass which they will have to be most sacred and in which they place the Center of all the Christian Religion there may be found Abuses and
Errors And why should Words be multiplied I omit other Witnesses for they are almost infinite many Councils have been held since that time and Bishops assembled and the Synod of Basil was expresly call'd as they then pretended for the Reformation of the whole Clergy but notwithstanding from that time forward Errors increased every where and the Corruptions of the Clergy became twice more than they were before 17. THE Cardinals who were nominated and chosen by Pope Paul the III. to consider the State of the Church gave in this Answer That there were many things faulty in the Church and especially in the Manners of the Bishops and inferior Clergy that the Bishops were lazy and did not teach the People feed the Flock or take care of the Vineyard that they lived in the Courts of Princes and were rarely resident that there was sometimes three and at others four Bishopricks held in commendam by one Cardinal which tended very much to the Dammage of the Church for those multiplied Offices as they said were not compatible or to be held together nor could be well managed by any one person and that all the Cloystered Orders should be banished out of the Church After this there was a Council at Trent but did the Bishops from that time begin to feed the Flock or did they cease from their former Non-residence or abstain from frequenting the Courts of Princes did the Cardinals cease from multiplying Bishopricks or was any care taken that the Church might have no dammage by it were the Conventual Orders diminished is Religion reformed amongst them what occasion then was there that so many Bishops should be assembled from very distant places or should to no purpose deliberate so many years concerning the Reformation of the Church this in truth is just as if the Pharisees should pretend to restore the Temple of God to its former Sanctity 18. THEY confess the errors and Abuses convoke Councils fain a great care of Religion and Piety promise their utmost Labour and Industry for the restitution of whatever is fallen into decay and that they will joyn with us in this Work That is just after that manner as the Enemies of the People of God of old said that they would together with Nehemia help to build the Temple of the Lord for indeed their design was not to promote the building of the Temple of the Lord but to hinder it as much as they could possibly they would willingly make a Peace with us but it is upon the terms offered by Nahash to the Jews of Jabesh if we will suffer them to bore out our right Eyes that is if we will suffer them to deprive us of the Word of God the Gospel of our Salvation 19. FOR have they any concern for Religion do they take any care of the Church of God who never regarded the Wrath of God nor the Salvation of the People nor any part of their Office they say let Pan take care of his Sheep They in the mean time mannage Wars Hunt take their Pleasures and fare deliciously That I may not mention any thing that is more base O immortal God! who can think that these men ever think on the Church of God or Religion when or what Errors will these men ever remove what Light will they afford to us whatever you say tho you could bring the Sun it self in your hands yet they would never the more see They excuse paint and comb as much as ever they can the most manifest Errors as Symachus or Porphyrius heretofore did the Heathen Errors and Follies All their business is to perswade the World that they have not deceived the People and that they have not err'd in any thing or if they sometimes prevail upon themselves to reform any thing which they never or very rarely and sparingly do they imitate Alexander the Roman Emperor who not being totally averse to the Christian Religion is reported to have worshiped Christ and Orpheus in the same Chappel or as the ancient Samaritans retained together the Worship of the true God and the Service of Idols so they will sometimes perhaps receive some part of the Gospel upon condition that they may at the same time retain their Superstition and their doting Errors they receive some Truths upon condition they may hold some other things which are false they do so approve ours as not to disapprove their own and so they do not take away Abuses but colour them over and only new case the old Pillars 20. THIS is their way of reforming the Church of God thus they celebrate Conventions and Councils the Truth is not served but Affection the better part is brought under by the greater the very Name of a General Council is beautiful and glorious but Poison is oftentimes given in a beautiful Cup for it is not sufficient that some Bishops and Abbots meet in one place the efficacy of a Council is not placed in Miters and Purple Robes nor is whatever a Council decrees presently to be taken for an Oracle It was a Council of which the Prophet Isaiah writes thus Wo to the rebellious Children saith the Lord who assemble a Council but not by me take Council saith he and it shall come to nought in another place It was a Council of which the Prophet David saith thus The Kings of the Earth stand up and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ It was a Council which condemn'd the Son of God Jesus Christ to the Cross it was a Council and celebrated at Carthage under St. Cyprian which decreed that those that were baptized by Hereticks when they returned to the Church should be rebaptized which Error was afterwards forc'd to be repeal'd by so many Councils and Writings of the Fathers And what need is there of so many Words The second Council of Ephesus was openly for Eutyches that the Humane Nature of Christ was changed into the Divine The second Council of Nice decreed a manifest Idolatry in the Worship of Images The Council of Basil as Albertus Pighius saith decreed against all Antiquity against Nature against Reason and against the Word of God The Council of Ariminium wickedly decreed for Arrius that Christ was not God and to conclude many other Councils afterwards erred too as the Selucian and the Syrmian which did both condemn the Homousians or Catholicks and also subscribed to the impious Heresie of the Council of Ariminium Why do you doubt the very Council of Chalcedon which was one of the four which Pope Gregory compar'd to the four Evangelists Pope Leo made no Scruple to accuse that very Council of Temerity of Rashness 21. THUS we see some Councils to have been contrary to other Councils and that as Pope Leo quash'd the Acts of Adrian Stephen of Formosus John of Stephen and that as Pope Sabinian commanded all the Writings of Pope Gregory to be burnt as perverse and wicked so very often a latter Council
when he had it concealed himself fourteen days on the English Coast then privately took Ship and arrived at Antwerp in the night and before day took Coach and so got safe to Strasbourgh the 30th of October 1553. Burnet To. 2. p. 246. Ib. p. 245. July 13. 1556. Humfrey p. 90. English life Dr. Peter Heylyn faith the contrary and that Wittingham Williams and Goodman were Zunglians before they left England who were the chief Promoters of the disorder at Frankford Ecclesia Restaurata p. 228. Conclusion Section 2. p. 141. Hiller C. H. The news of the Queens death came to Zurick the last of November Mart. Letters March 30. Heylyn's Eccl. Restaurata p. 301. Rastal was a common Lawyer and published his Book in 1563. Harding was then Prebendary when Mr. Jewel was elected and gave his vote for him Humf. p. 140. Dr. Burnett's History of the Reformation Tom. 2. Dr. Heylyn Eccl. Rest p. 349. 1562. Humfrey's in the Life of Jewel p. 177. Peter Martyr's Letter to Bishop Jewel concerning this Book is dated Aug. 24. 1562. English Life Before his Works Humfrey p. 234. Page 187. Heylyn p. 328. 1562. In the LXIII of his Age. 1564. 1567. 1569 1570. 1570. Humfrey's p. 111. April 5. 1571. Memory Industry Common place Books Diaries Languages His Greek Learning Travail His Humour Gratitude Preaching Page III No friend to the Disenters The 〈◊〉 to the first Tom. of Col. by Dr. 〈◊〉 Fuller's C. H. lib. 9. Sect 3. n. 3. Humfrey's In a short Paper written by this good Bishop against certain frivolous objections made against the Government of the Church of England Printed at Londâ—n 1641. Bishop Whitgift in the defence of the Answer to the Admonition tells us Cartwright was the man and that hereupon the Faction used the Bishop most ungratefuly and depitefully p. 423. Prov. 22. 15. Liberality Charity Mr. Hooker Dr. Walton 〈◊〉 Mr. Hooker's Life Lib. 2. §. 6. Truth ever persecuted Tertul. in Apologia Cor. Tacitus Tertul. in Apolog c. 7. c. Plinius John 8. 9. 10. Mar. 11. Marcion ex Tertullianâ— Aelius â— Lactan. Tertul Apolog. c. 2 3. and 7. 8 9. Tertul. Apolog. â—ap â— Sueton in Nerone Juvenal Sat. 1 Tim. 4. The Accusations of the R. Catholicks John 8. 49. Act. 26. 25. †Quadratus Justinus Melito Tertullian Quadratus a Disciple of the Apostles and Bishop of Athens wrote Books for the Christian Religion and made an Oration in the Defence of it before Hadrian the Emperor by which he put a stop to a furious Persecution then moved against it Anno Christi 128. Spondanus Justinus the Martyr a Christian Philosopher wrote an Apologetick Oration for the Christian Religion with great freedom and truth which he dedicated to Antoninus Pius the Emperor and his adopted Sons Marcus and Lucius and to the very Senate and People of Rome Anno Christi 150. for which he lost his Life Melito Bishop of Sardâ—s wrote an excellent Apology to Aurelius the Emperor for the Christians which he presented to that Emperor in the tenth year of his Reign Anno Christi 172. Baronius Tertullian wrote a very learned and a sharp Apology for the Christian Religion which was some few years since made English It was first published by the Author without his Name in the year of Christ 201. in the very City of Rome and did great service to Christianity which was then most miserably oppressed by the Lies and Defamations of the Pagans which did it more hurt than all their other Fury Acts 24. 14. Tertul. in Apolog 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 16. De Vnitate Eccl. c. 3. contra Max. lib. 3. c. 14. In prim cap. Aggei Acts 24. 14. Coll. 2. 14. Actâ— 3. 2â— Tract 30. in Joan. Epist ad Dardan Fulgentius ad Regem Thrasi mundum De Simpl. Praelatorum Chap. 47. * The Title of Pontifex Maximus was that of the Roman Heathen Priests and cannot properly be rendred into English any other way than by that of Priest it being not of the same nature with the Word Bishop yet have the Popes of Rome usurped this very heathen Title Gregory lib. 4. Ep. 76. 78. 80. lib. 7. Ep. 69. 2 Tim. 3. 13. Math. 23. 13. Luk. 11. 52. Math. 16. 19. In Titum Hom. I. Theoph. ad Titum Euseb lib. 18. c. 5. in Monodia sua super Basilium 1 Tim. 4. 1 * Huldericus Platina in vita Pij secundi Gal. 1. 8. Chrysost ad AEphe Ser. 3. De conser dist 1. cap. Omnes * But now in the Decretum under the Name of Anacletus De consecratione Dist 1. cap. comperimus a In Joan. cap. â— b De Sacra l. q. c. 4. c In Dialo l. 2. d In Sermone ad infantes de Consecratione e In Math. 15. Gen. 2. 23. John 6. 56. In coena Domini In Johan tract 50. Lib. de caerem. Eccl. Rom. Purgatory August in Psal 85. in Enchiriâ—io c. 6. 7. de civitate Dei lib. 21. cap. 26. lib. 11. contra Pelegian lib. Hipognostcon 5. Of Cerâ—monies â— Cor. 1â— 40. Prayer in our own Tongue Mediators and Intercessors Jerem. 2. 28. 11. 13. Original Sin 1 John 2. 2. 4. 10. Col. 1. 20. Heb. 10. 14. John 19. 30. Sacrifice Of good Works Ephes 2. 10. Col. 1. 10. Phil. 2. 12. Distinct 36. Lector in Glossa Distinct 81. Presbyter * George Paris an Arrian was burnt in the Reign of Edward the 6th April the 4th 1551. for Heresie tho he was a German by Nation Godwins Annals * Those who were call'd Zuinglians when this Piece was written afterwards were call'd Calvinists and the other Name is now not commonly known but Zuinglius was the Author of the Doctrine and Calvin of the Discipline of this Sect of turbulent men Steven Gardiner in Sophist Diab Richard Faber Recantatio Berengarii Scholer Glossa Guimundus De Conscoral Dist 2. Ego Berengarius Gardiner De consecratione Dist 2. species Glossa Euseb H. 3 Lib. 4. By Ministers here I suppose the Decons are meant 3. Quest 7. lata ext de Bigamis Quia circa Gen. 38. 14. In Concilio dilectorum Cardinalium To. 3. De consideratione ad Eugenium Paul IIII. In Apol. c. 45. Rom. 2. 13. Math. 22. 21. John 19. 12. Rom. 13. 1. 5. Amos 7. 10. It had been infinitely for the Honor of the Reformation if the same Modesty Loyalty and Duty had ever attended the Professors of it But alas our Author lived and wrote in a critical Moment before the Scotch Tumults the Civil Wars of France and the Revolt of the Netherlands those that have confirm'd the truth of the Popish Objections by ill Principles which they borrowed from them and worse Practises shall do well to consider what Answer they will be able to give in the Day of Judgment for the Sin and Scandal they have brought upon the Reformation but when all is done blessed be God the Church of England and her Children have maintained this Doctrine inviolably and the Honour of that