house of God as for wresting the Scripture when any of you all can iustifie that the most witlesse Puritane in England doth wrest them more violently and ridiculously than your selues then will I be a Protestant no longer You Papists though your brawles bee endlesse one with another Canonists against Schoole-men Franciscans against Dominicks Nominals against Reals Thomas against Lombard Scotus against Thomas Occam against Scotus Alliacensis against Occam Peter Sot against Catharine Catharine against Caietan Caietan against Pighius Iesuites against Priests and Priests against Iesuites yet forsooth these dogs cats are of one Cage they are all members of the Romish Church but Protestants and Puritans being diuers names that differ not in the grounds of faith but in small points as Richard and Thomas or Iohn and Iames doe in colour and complexion and countenance they forsooth cannot bee both members of the same Church But what should I spend time with such a prater as dares face vs out that such a Religion as is now established in England was neuer heard of in the world before King Edwards time I am sure there is no other Religion established in England but that which is cleerely taught in the word of God brought hether first by Simon a Nicephor lib. 2. cap 4. Zelotes Ioseph b Ghildas of Arimathea Saint c Theodor. de cur graecor affect lib. 9. Paul the Apostle al of them or some of them watred stil on in the daies of d Lib contra Iudaeos Tertullian e In Ezec. ho. 4 Origen f Apolog. secunda Athanasius g Initio lib. de Synod contra Arian Hilarie h Homil. quod Christus sit Deus aduers gentil Chrysostome i Hyst eccles lib. 1. cap. 10. lib. 4. cap. 3 Theodoret all which ancient Fathers speake honourably of the Church and Religion and Prelates of Britaine Now whether this Church and this Religion so planted and so watred were the same that was restored and established in the happy daies of King Edward and Queene Elizabeth both Princes of blessed memorie it is so cleerely decided in the written word of God that the crying and yelling of our forlorne Papists shall neuer be able to perswade the contrarie Yea but Aerius you know as soone as hee denyed prayer for the dead was confuted and the first that impugned the reall presence was condemned in the Councell of Lateran and so were other of your opinion as they sprange vp in later yeeres This man you see will not giue ouer as long as hee can say any thing but goo too let vs not thinke much to answere these triflles Aerius indeed denyed prayer for the dead if Epiphanius mistake not the matter yet I denie that hee vnderstood such kinde of praying for the dead as the Popish Church vseth at this day Papists pray for the release of veniall offences punishable in Purgatorie but Aerius spake against the common errour of his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 namely that the forgiuenesse of incurable sinnes might bee procured to the dead by the prayers of the liuing if this be heresie then bee you heretickes your selues Touching the reall presence Bertram it is well knowne that Bertram wrote against it without any mans contradiction 400. yeeres before the Counsell of Lateran Aelfricus And so did Aelfricus Archbishop of Canterburie almost 200. yeeres after Bertram in a Sermon which was yeerely read in our Churches at the feast of Easter As for the time that followed in later yeeres after the Lat eran Councell wee say of it Luk. 22.53 as our Sauiour doth of the like time This is your verie houre and the power of darkenesse Thus haue I shewed you briefly but sufficiently when the great compound heresie of Poperie first sprange how it grew peece by peece till Antichrist was disclosed 2. Thes 2.8 I haue told you also how it hath been consumed by the breath of Gods mouth and when it shall be cut downe and wither As for Miracles and Martyrs Cath. 7.22 24 24. 2. Thes 2.9 Apoc. 16.14 the one prooueth you to bee th◠brood of Antichrist of whose lying wonders the scripture hath foretold vs the other namely Gods Martyrs they crie out for vengeance against blood-suckers for so we are taught in the Reuelation and such blood-suckers are you and haue euer beene as Master Foxe hath most truely set it downe to your euerlasting shame and confusion such Miracles as yours bee wee can shew none neither can wee make Martyrs as you can God giue vs all grace to keepe that way and path that leadeth and directeth to the Kingdome of heauen and graunt vs rather good Bishops without succession than succession without good Bishops that all of vs both Bishops and people high and low rich and poore one with another may glorifie God the Father of our lord Iesus Christ So be it Ierem. Cap. 49.10 I haue discouered Esau I haue vncouered his secrets and he shall not be able to hide himselfe Tertul. de prescript aduersus heretic Haereses de quorundam infirmitatibus habent quod valent nihil valentes si in bene valentem fidem incurrant Paraeneticum carmen Authoris ad Magistrum I. S. SI cupis ad superos per inania tecta domorum Altius horrendo scandere cum sonitu Consule Papistas hominum immanissima mōstra Qui scandendi alium non didicêre modum O scelus infandum nùm crudo sanguine pascit Italus ille suas Pontificaster oues Siccine pascendum vasto Polyphemus in antro Eructans saniem quam bibit ante docet Siccine scandendū ad superos docet vncta meretrix Quae tota innocuo mersa cruore rubet O fuge quid cessas meretricia desere castra Scandendique nouam disce tenere viam Eiusdem conclusio ad D. Doctorem Grimston medicum praestantissimum SI quid in hoc fuerit lectoribus vtile libro Non mihi sed cutae gratia danda tuae Et liber libri dominus paulò ante redemptus Libertus tuus est desijt esse suus Mortis serua tuo fit libera vita labore Libera vita tuo facta labore tua est Viuo igitur viuoque tuus viuamque per omnem Quam dederas vitam seu tua seu mea sit FINIS
c. and the other out of Iohn Rom. lib. 1. cap. 2. giueth the Apostles no more but Potestatē ordinis ad remittenda peccata Power of order to remit sins Thus must your papist either be at oddes with Bellarmine or else giue claues iurisdictionis the keyes of iurisdiction onely to Peter and his successors and to the rest nothing but potestatem ordinis and so consequently he must find other places besides these or else his keyes will neither open nor shut as he would haue them Wherefore let him consult with Bellarmine his master before he presume ouer farre vpon the doctrine of the Church of Rome and he will tell him that the keyes both of order and iurisdiction were giuen to Peter in these words Iohn 21.15 c. Iohn 20.21 c. Pasce oves meas Feede my sheepe and to the other Apostles in these as my father sent me so send I you and in these words to receiue the holy Ghost whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted vnto them and whose sinnes yee reteine they are reteined and here note by the way how solemnely Father Bellarmine tels vs that our Sauiour in these two places gaue Summam potestatem Chiefe power to all his Apostles Sed cum quadam subiectione ad Petrum But with a kind of subiection to Peter As if summa potestas and subiectio could possibly agree together or as if Peter himselfe receaued that same high power among the rest vsed it Cum quadam subiectione ad se ipsum with a kind of subiection to himself Such ridiculous absurdities doe men runne headlong into when they are ouer hastily carried away with their owne dreames But goe too let vs intreat the Cardinall to beare with his friend and to procure him a dispensation to vnderstand these two places which he citeth after his owne liking what hath he than to say Marry then I say our sense is more literall then yours well and what saith he else Nay we say that our Sauiour by these words doth giue authoritie and commission to his disciples and their successors to forgiue sinnes not by their owne power and authoritie but by the power and authoritie of him whose commissioners they be Yea but haue they commission to forgiue sinnes wheresoeuer they find it or else in them onely that God is willing to forgiue Their commission I trow is not vniuersall to all without discretion and to dreame who it is that God purposeth to shew mercy vnto is beyond the capacitie of any man liuing Papist to Protestant he that hath a letter of Atturney from his master to giue possession of and knoweth the man to whom he is commaunded to conuey his masters interest Rom. 9.18 but our master hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will hee hardeneth neither may your popist Priest presume that hee knoweth the mind of the Lord Rom. 11.33.34 and can find out his wayes and iudgements which be insearchable and so this silly papist heere confesseth when he saith that man giueth remission to pretended penitents which God who seeth their hearts doth not ratifie now then conferre this power thus exercised hand ouer head to good and bad as papists vse it with our preaching or publishing remission to penitent sinners and then iudge whether is most like to be the better And because he bragges of the literrall sense that it makes wholly for him let him tell mee how the generall words of the Scripture whatsoeuer thou shalt bind whatsoeuer thou shalt loose whosoeuers sinnes yee remit and whosoeuers sinnes ye retaine can be literally restrained to such onely as be truely penitent if this cannot be done without a quatefication let him not bragge that his sense is more literall than ours we preach remission to all that be penitent and so open vnto them the kingdome of heauen to the impenitent Rom. 2.8 and such as contentiously disobey the truth wee denounce indignation and wrath Esay 5.14 and so shut heauen open hell wide that their glory their multitude pompe may descend into it neither can this sense seeme strange to such as be conuersant in the writings of the Fathers Thus saith Tertullian Contr. Marcion lib. 4. Esa lib. 6. cap. 14. De Cain Abel lib. 2. cap. 4. In Oper. imperf in Mat. cap. 23. Quam clauem habebant legis doctores nisi interpretationem legis What keyes had the doctors of the law but the interpretation of the law Thus Ierome Soluunt Apostoli sermone Dei testimonijs scripturarum exhortatione virtutū The Apostles doe loose by the word of God and testimonies of the Scriptures and exhortation vnto vertues Thus Ambrose Remittuntur peccata per verbum Dei cuius Leuites est interpres Sinnes are remitted by the word of God of which the minister is interpreter Thus Chrysostome Clauicularij sunt sacerdotes quibus creditum est verbum docendi interpretandi scripturas The key-keepers are the Priests vnto whom the word of teaching and interpreting the Scriptures is committed But it may be our papist by comparison of his interpretation and ours will find out the truth thus hee writes you build your faith vpon the opinion of Luther or Caluine or the conceit of your owne braine and we vpon the authoritie of the auncient fathers and continuall practise of the vniuersall Church through the whole world continued from the Apostles and remaining to this day Heere is a tale told with all circumstances pressed downe and running ouer for hee might haue left out either vniuersall Church or through the whole world either continued or continuall practise or remaining to this day if he had not purposed to dazle vs with emptie wordes but is this the comparison he crakes of Now surely we must needs bee hard hearted that cannot yeeld to such comparisons can you prooue that wee build our faith vpon Luther or Caluine or our owne braine or doe you compare together our faith and yours when you compare the opinion and conceit of Luther or Caluine with the authority of the ancient Fathers Alas good Papist you cannot but know that our faith is no mans conceit or opinion and it is a shame for you to confesse that you build your faith vpon the authoritie of the Fathers or practise of the Church be it neuer so ancient I hope the fathers builded not vpon other Fathers that were their ancients but vpon the infallible word of God and what should ayle vs that we may not vse that meanes the Fathers vsed before vs you may talke long inough of Fathers and traditions and your toppe gallant Church of Rome as though no one Father sayd any thing for vs yet when you haue all done you must giue vs leaue ot we will take leaue to found our faith and religion vpon the written word of the Almightie Thus is your Popish fellowes Rhetoricke come to small effect and therefore he will now trie what his Logicke can doe Thus
verbo non script lib. 4 Cap. 8. concludes out of Paul that all thinges are not to be opened to all but some things must be d 1. Cor. 2.6 reserued perfectis sapientibus yet I doubt whether any such perfect wise men are to bee found in the world O you perfect wise men of Rome or of Rhemes or where else soeuer you nestle your selues in the world can your perfect wisedomes doe so much for vs as to set downe these Traditions in blacke and white in a perfect Catalogue that if any controuersie arise about this or that tradition your blacke and white Booke may resolue vs No no you cannot doe it and therefore you tell vs you may not doe it in the hearing of such simple fellowes as we be because Paul hath commaunded the contrarie Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos is your warrant to hide these mysteries from such poore fooles as we be But wote you what this verie allegation shall be our warrant to pronounce that you are perfect wise heretickes such as Basilides Carpocrates Cerinthus Valentinus and Marcion looke in e Iren. lib. 1. cap. 23. 24. lib. 3. cap. 2. Irenaeus and f Tertul. de prescript aduers haeret Tertullian and there you shall finde that I doe not be-lye you g Math. 10 27. our Sauiour willeth his Disciples to speake in the open light and to preach on the tops of the houses and himselfe confirmed this plaine and open dealing by his own practise h Ioh. 18.20 I spake openly to the world saith he I euer taught in the Synagogue and in the temple where the Iewes alwaies resort and in secret haue I sayd nothing These places be inanswerable and therefore some that be lesse wayward in this point than their fellowes as for example i Aduers Brent Petrus à Soto k In Catech cap. 5. Canisius l In Pan. lib. 4. cap. 100. in fine fabulae 6. Lindanus m Parte 3. Peresius and others reckon vp a iolly companie of traditions as namely the oblation of the sacrifice their annealing their praying to the dead and for the dead their primacie of Rome their hallowing of Fonts their fiue pretended Sacraments the Merits of Works their satisfactions their tallying vp of their sinnes to the Priest their worshipping of Images their set-fasting dayes their holy time of Lent their oblations for the dead their Peters being at Rome their real presence their halfe Cōmunion their reseruation and adoration their priuate masse their shrifts their satisfactiōs their indulgēces their purgatory their single life of Priests and such like of which they say like down-right Squiers that they are not grounded vpon the holy scripture and that by scripture they cannot bee defended and so saith this our Papist of most of them euen in n Sect. 5. this Dialogue and therfore howsoeuer they trouble vs with some few light-footed allegations of Scripture yet their owne consciences tell them that the Scriptures will faile them in all these seuerall questions Wouldest thou know then what remayneth to bee done Mary I will tell thee let all their rich Gluttons in hell or out of hell dead or aliue nay let the Diuell himselfe say and doe what they will or can yet we will and so doe thou follow the counsell of Abraham we will and so doe thou heare Moses and the Prophets as he teacheth vs and not such as will vs to repose our trust in vnwritten and vnsealed Traditions And here to passe ouer to the other point I promised to speake of let it please thee to remember who was the first founder of Traditions namely Papias a Chiliast whom o Hist eccles lib. 2. 15. lib. 3. 36. Eusebius calleth a publisher of Paradoxes and strange and fabulous doctrines an inconsiderate mistaker of the disputations of the Apostles and a man of small iudgement yet this is the man that layd the first stone of Peters being at Rome and so consequently of the Papall Primacie and where Peter a 1. Pet. 5.13 saith the Church that is at Babylon saluteth you this is the first that euer told vs that he means Rome a worthy foundation no doubt to build religion vpon and yet when he saith that Rome is Babylon he puts vs all in minde to b Apo. 18.2.4 come out of Rome the habitation of Diuels and the hold of all foule spirits and a cage of euerie vncleane and hatefull bird And here it is a world to see how the Papists labour to auoyd the force of this and such like Prophecies This say they must bee meant of the heathenish not of the Christian Babylon And I say againe it neither must nor can be so meant for who will yeeld that Saint Iohn should set downe that by way of Prophecie which was prophecied alreadie by c Cap. 7. Daniel long before either Saint Iohn was banished or Christ was incarnate Againe if happily Daniel be otherwise vnderstood why should the holy ghost speake of the Citie of Rome rather than Corinth Philippos Colosse Thessalonica great Cities of Greece or of Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea to which d Cap. 1.4 the Reuelation is dedicated or the Citie of Ephesus where it is thought Saint Iohn was Bishop were not all these Cities as heathenish as Rome and better knowne to Saint Iohn so to be than Rome was What was Saint Iohn made a Prophet to speake against heathenish Rome which he neuer saw nor came neere to and no prophet at all to speake of the heathenishnes of so many Cities that hee had seen so often and was so well acquainted withall Moreouer if this might be yeelded vnto yet why should heathenish Rome be figured in the person of a gawdie scarlet coloured whorish woman and be counted the mother of all the filthinesse whoredomes and abhominations of the earth whereas indeed there was neuer a more manly and more continent gouernement in the world In the e Cap. 7. prophecie of Daniel the chiefe Kingdomes and Empires of the earth are described vnto vs by the names of Lions Beares and Leopards and stronge terrible and fearfull beasts with yron teeth nayles of brasse and shall we thinke that the most continent most iust most strong most terrible and couragious gouernment that euer was in the world should be compared by the holy ghost to a fine daintie Dame to a tender nice whore to a proud shamelesse whore that made open shew of the filthinesse of her Fornication No no this verie Booke of Saint Iohns Reuelation f Apoc 13 2. doth compare the Romane Emperor to a Leopard with Beares feet and a Lions mouth and the Papists themselues doe so vnderstand it And here obserue that beside the first beast which was like a Leopard there is another there spoken of which hauing two hornes like a lambe spake like a Dragon and did all the first beast could doe and more too
Bishop to Bishop to know and certifie the state of al Churches and yet that policy could not worke faith further then the credite of the man which is a poore stay for a christian conscience Verily the credite of men is but a sandye foundation to build vpon in matters not written seeing your Papist was so fouly ouerseene in the community of all things a matter written in great letters and so determined in the worde of God that all open eyes may see and perceiue that it was neuer vniuersally practised and whereas it pleaseth him to talke of weedes and bastard plants that they could not still remaine without checke or contradiction I am sure he hath read in Matthew Sap. 13.25 that while men slept the enuious man sewd tares among the wheat and that both should grow together vntill haruest and therefore no maruell though the mystery of iniquitie grew on stil by little and little by reason of mens sleepines and wrought closely without any effectuall contradiction otherwise it had not beene a mystery yet notwithstanding when once it was growne so out of fashion that men saw how vgly and mishapen it was 2. Thes 2.7.8 then the spirite of the Lords mouth began to consume it and when haruest is come it shall be abolished neither is it maruell that Councels and catholicke Doctors slept while the tares of Anti-christian Religion were a sowing and so ignorantly gaue their helping hand to the inthronizing of the man of sinne Apoc. 2.13 c. for the Angell of Pergamus was a faithfull seruant of God yet Satan had erected himselfe a throne in his Church to teach the doctrine of Baalam Apo. 2.19 c. and the Nicholaitans which God hated the like may be sayd of that worthy Angell of Thyatira of whom God gaue testimonie that hee knewe his loue seruice faith patience and workes to be more at the last than at the first yet hee suffered the woman Iezabel to deceiue the seruants of God The Dialogue Sectio V. PAp Now let vs returne from whence we haue digressed that is to say vnto the searching of the second mortall wound which as I haue sayd you haue giuen vnto your owne cause by a How prooue you that wee haue excluded them excluding out of your Church all the ancient Catholick Fathers and Doctors for admit that you could by expounding wresting of scriptures intrude your selfe into such a Church as holdeth no Doctrine but such as is warranted by the canonicall Scriptures b Nonsequitur yet must you leaue out of the same Church as Heretickes and Scismatickes all the ancient Fathers and Bishops of the Latine and Greeke Churches neither are you c you measure vs by your selues able to name any time or place where or when your Church was extant or any one Bishop or principall member thereof Pro. What points of Doctrine are they which the antiquitie did hold without warrant of scripture what ancient Fathers Doctors Bishops were they that held such doctrine Pap. In a word they were all Papists which being prooued you will not denie the consequent d All the Fathers held not these points and some of these points were bastards and haue no knowne Fathers they held prayer for the dead purgatorie transubstantiation they offered a sacrifice for the quicke and the dead they prayed to Saints held also vowes of chastitie the vnlawfulnesse of Priests marriage and the descention of Christs soule into Hell call you not this Papistry I am sure you had rather be in your Church alone than to be troubled with such papisticall Companions now shall you heare e All this hath nothing in it but facing the opinion of euerie Doctor deliuered by his owne penne in such plaine words as you shall not be able by any glosse or distinction to peruert but must néedes confesse that they were all out of your new Church I will begin with prayer for the dead and so goe on in order The Answere THe second wound is come at length to the searching namely that all the ancient Fathers and Bishops must bee excluded as heretickes and scismatickes out of our Church and why so Marry because they held certaine points of Doctrine not warranted by the canonicall Scriptures is not this a deepe wound thinke ye wee say indeed that no other doctrine ought to bee curtant in the Church but such as hath the image and superscription of the Canonicall Scriptures but doe you therefore say that all such as haue beene carried beyond those limits through ignorance or infirmitie Cyprian lib. 2. Epist 3. are to be put out for wranglers Si quis de antecessoribus nostris vel ignoranter vel simpliciter non hoc obseruauit tenuit quod nos dominus facere exemplo magisterio suo docuit potest simplicitati eius de indulgentia domini venia concedi nobis vero non poterit ignosci qui nunc à domino admoniti instructi sumus If any of our Predecessors either of ignorance or simplicity did not obserue and keepe this which the Lord by his example and commandement hath taught the Lord of his mercie may pardon his simplicitie but wee after wee haue beene admonished and instructed so of the Lord may looke for no pardon Thus sayd Cyprian of the Aquarians that were before him and so say we of the ancient Fathers that haue added the timber hay and stubble of traditions to the gold siluer and precious stones of Scripture howbeit see I pray you how your Papist hanges the principall pillars of his Religion vpon tradition and all to wring out the Fathers out of our Church The Fathers were all Papists and held prayer for the dead purgatorie transubstantiation Sacrifice for quicke and dead prayer to dead Saints vowes of chastitie the single life of Priests and the descention of Christs soule into hell all these trim points of learning you shall heare now so prooued by tradition out of euerie Doctor as you must confesse to bee super excellent yet take heed you do not expound these words euerie Doctor heretically after the imagination of your owne braine for I dare assure you he neuer saw the couers of euerie Doctor and therefore you may not vnderstand them simply as they sound but charitably for so many as haue writings extant and could be intreated of this suddain to speake an ambiguous word or two in these matters The Dialogue Sectio VI. Prayer for the dead EPiphanius lib. 3. To. primo Cap. 75. It appeareth there that the Hereticke Aerius was of your opinion a And of yours too for you dare not pray for the release of incurable sinnes as the Church then did looke bet-vpon Epiphanius concerning Prayer for the dead and concerning the feast of Easter and the equalitie of Ministers he was a flat Puritane For he held that there was no difference betwéen a Priest and a Bishop he vsed the b
the vngodlie wee aske we obtaine The Dialogue Sectio XXVII ANd here will I make and end referring that which hitherto hath béene spoken to your better censure and further consideration whereupon if you shall rest resolued that you haue rightly described the Church of Christ and that you are also a member of the same yet a No such matter it is but the vanitie of your conceit must you be inforced to graunt that all the ancient fathers before mentioned were hereticks and that so was also that vniuersall Church whereof they make mention so ofteÌ„ in their writings b Paul saith that Antichrist doth sit in the temple of God and therefore no maruel though his seat were alwayes in preparing in the Church wherin the said heretical and papisticall doctrine was taught and practised but let vs admit although it bée most false that there was in the world such a Church as you haue c VVe goe by truth not by imagination imagined for the first 300 yéeres next alter Christ and that these ancient fathers and doctors with their adherents did afterward ecclypse that cleare light of the Gospell which shined in those first 300. yéeres yet how can we imagine that the Church of Christ which was indowed with so many gifts of the holy Ghost and which euer flourished and increased most amidst the tortures of so many heathen Emperours could vpon d We doe not imagine so for the kingdome of Antichrist was not erected vpon a suddane but by lâ—tle and litle irremarkeably as weeds vse to grow among thâ— good coâ—ne a sudden be so vtterly quayled and extinguished by these hereticall doctors as that no member thereof should once take pen in hand in defence of the trueth against their heresies or how can we e VVho bids you imagine so but your Synagogue lay hidden til Antichrist was d sclosed 2. Thes 2.3 imagine that the Church of Christ should for the space of 1300. yéeres lie hidden in so secret corners of the world as that none of the said papisticall doctors who wrote against all those by the name of heretickes which helde any doctrine contrary to that which they f The ancient fathers neuer termed such as you be Catholicks nor your doctrine Catholicke termed Catholicke could heare of them or that in all that time no generall Councell who were gathered together from all parts of the world should receiue intelligence g No Chur h had any being then but ours onely of the being of your mathematicall Church professing christianity in so farre different a maner which if either any of the said doctors or any of those general Councels had done h Non sequitur we should haue heard of them in the Catalogue of heretickes or haue found their opinions condemned by some generall councels so soone as Aerius arose and denied prayer for the dead c. he was i Full simply and full little to your credit but single men such as Epiphanius was in this case haue no authoritie to dubbe heretickes confuted by Epiphanius and afterward by S. Austine when the reall presence was k It was impugned 200 nay 500. yeeres and odde before your Lateran councels first impugned the first authors thereof were condemned by the Councell of Laterane and so of other of your opinions as they sprang vp in latter yeeres but a Protestant religion such as is now established in England was neuer heard of in the world before king Edwards time neither hath that religion at this day any being in the world l A foule vntruth without either gaâ—d or welt but in England onely And Puritany such m They professe no such matter as professe to be of a church which holdeth no doctrine but such as is warranted by scripture neuer had nor yet hath any being in the world so that it is n This fellow seemes not to know what religion and Church is a religion and a church as yet in imagination onely for although Puritanes o you haue cause to loue them the better for in so doing they resemble you Papists doe violently and ridiculously wrest the scripture for proofe of euery point of their doctrine yet doe they hold many things not warranted by scripture as before I haue sufficiently prooued There was neuer heresie in the world but you shall reade when it first sprang vp how it grew and increased and when it was cut downe and withered away you shall neuer p you may read in Paul when it first sprang and when it shal be cut downe 2. Thes 2 7 8 reade when the catholicke religion first sprang it hath for these 1300. yéeres by q VVe confesse no such matter your own confession increased and florished it hath béene confirmed by infinite miracles and watered with the blood of millions of Martyrs and therefore the way that leadeth and directeth vnto the catholicke religion is r But by your leaue we must doubt of it or rather be out of doubt it is not no doubt the way whereof the Prophet Esay speaketh saying And there shall be a path and a way and it shall be called the holy way and it shall be to you so direct and plaine as fooles shall not be able to erre therein Contrariwise you shall Å¿ In the Bible reade when and where your doctrine first sprang vp who were the fathers thereof and it hath béene t The more to blame they that did it cut so oft as it hath reuiued so oft as any branch thereof hath sprung vp it hath béene confuted and condemned by generall Councels and is registred in the Catalogue of latter heresies you can shew no succession of bishops no myracles no u These be stale prattlements of no weight beseeming such vain ianglers martyrs nor name any one member of your Church before Iohn Caluin for although Wickliffe Husse and Luther with the Waldenses and certaine other condemned heretickes of Armenia and Grecia did iumpe with you in some of your opinions yet was none of them either Protestant or Puritane and so none of your Church and therefore the way that leadeth to your Church is not that direct and playne way whereof the Prophet speaketh but rather an inexplicable Labyrinth wherein there is x VVe haue the holy word of God to giue vs light and to guide vs cursed be he that lookes for better direction Amen no light no path no compasse or guide to direct your course The Answere HEere this man would make an end if hee could tell how but his conscience telling him that his discourses are weake and insufficient he would faine fortifie them with a little generall talke propounded and answered longe agoe Sect. 5. alibi and therefore though it be needlesse to keepe downe a dead Carkasse with any newe answere vnlesse hee could blowe life into it with some newe defence yet somewhat more would bee added in this place
for the repressing of popish insolencie First therefore where it is disputed that if our description of the Church be right then the ancient Fathers were heretickes and the vniuersall Church hereticall I am content this sequele be iudged by that which hath been alreadie disputed if euerie disagreement from truth must needs bee heresie Gal. 2.11 c. Act. 15.39 Act. 11.2 c. then either Paul or Peter was an hereticke and so was either Barnabas or Paul who were so stirred the one against the other that they parted asunder Peter was chidden of the Church of Iewrie for communicating to the Gentiles yet the Church was deceiued and not Peter 1. Co. 3 12.13 euerie errour is not an heresie and euerie one that builds timber hay or stubble vpon the foundation is not an hereticke and therefore this loose talke is little worth Yea but let vs admit saith hee that there was such a Church as you imagine in the first three hundred yeeres after Christ though it bee most false nay you must admit it maugre your head neither is it false euer the sooner with a merrie word prooue it to be false and wee will bee as farre from either admitting it or imagining it as your selfe but so long as you vse such a generall defence as they of Sodome and Gomorha and the Cities adioyning might haue vsed against Lot the Cananites against Abraham and the old world against Noah and his familie there is no cause why such goodly shewes of antiquitie should controll Gods truth if Lot Abraham and Noah had beene ruled by prescription of time by multitude by authoritie of Princes by traditions of Elders or by any thing else in the world but Gods owne mouth they had been as Sodome and like to Gomorha and yet for all that Peter the head Patron of Rome as you say and the Iewes that depended vppon him playd the hypocrites together and Barnabas a good man full of the holy Ghost and faith Act. 11.24 was led away with them to the same hypocrisie and though the scripture testifie of Lot that hee was a iust man Gal. 2.13 and that his righteous soule was vexed from day to day with the vncleanly conuersation of the wicked yet by your leaue 2. Pet. 2.7.8 the prostitution of his daughters his drunkenesse and incest Gen. 19.8.31 c. doe plainely euince that he was somewhat tainted with the sins of Sodome Yea but Sodome was not the Church of God neither was there any Christian Church established when Peter and his companie playd the hypocrites Well Let that bee graunted yet my reason is so much the stronger for if Strangers from God and young Nouises in religion preuailed so much that the one drew Lot the other Peter and Barnabas to doe thinges not conuenient how much more may the vsuall slips and fals and infections of Christian Churches worke the like inconueniences in the Fathers and guides of the same we doe not imagine that the Church of Christ was vtterly quailed and extinguished vpon a suddaine for that 's more than the gates of hell shall euer be able to bring to passe but this we say and are sure that the mysterie of iniquitie did worke in Pauls time and fell not a sleepe as soone as Saint Paule was dead waking againe 600. 2. Thes 2.7 yeares after when this mysterie was disclosed for Rome was not built in a day or vpon a suddaine and the Maister builders of it are none of the seuen Sleepers and therefore no maruaile though perusing Councels Fathers and Stories from the Apostles forward we finde the print of the Popes feet here and there scatteringly and so perceiue how he went on and grewe to the fulnesse of the age of Antichrist Neither is it preiudiciall to Gods cleere truth faithfully registred in the word of God that none tooke penne in hand to defend it against Antichrist for the Angels of Pergamus and Thyatira Reuel cap. 2.14.15.20 though they were Gods faithfully Ministers yet doe wee not read that either they or any of their fellowes and friends wrote or spake any thing against Baalamites and Nicholaitans and the false prophecies of Iesabell that infected their Churches Epist 119. ad Ianuar. Austine saith Multa huiusmodi propter nonnull trum vel sanctarum vel turbulentarum personarum scandala deuitanda liberiùs improbare non audeo I dare not freely as I should improoue many scandals of this kind because of some either holy or troublesome persons that fauour them and therefore no maruell though the religion of Antichrist being a compound heresie of many simples grew on soft and faire and plodded still forward by little and by little without any resistance till the time came it should bee disclosed if the light of truth had been suddenly eclipsed the ancient Fathers and their adherents would haue laboured to restore it but this eclipse growing slowly by small peeces they knew not the deepenesse of Satan Reuel 2.24 Math. 13.25 c. and so gaue the tares of Antichrist leaue to growe so long among the wheat til they were past weeding neuerthelesse looke the preface of Caluines Institutions to the French King and there you shall finde the testimonies of Acacius Spiridion Ambrose Austine Epiphanius Gelasius Chrysostome Calixtus Cyprian Apollonius Paphnutius and others against outward braueries abstinence from flesh monkish idlenesse painted Images suffrages for the dead transubstantiation the halfe communion vnwritten determinatiōs set fastings forbidding mariage mans weak iudgment and such like flowers of Antichrists garland and if these had sayd nothing yet there were many other Fathers besides these and whether they tooke penne in hand and wrote more fully against the seuerall branches of Poperie as they grew it were hard to tell yet may wee affirme it with as good probabilitie as you may denie it howsoeuer it be the wisedome of God hauing so decree to punish our vnthankefulnesse the doctrine of Rome Reuel 17.9 which is the seat of Antichirst grew and increased a long time but thankes bee to God it is now in such a consumption as eats vp the flesh of it 2. Thes 2.8 and wee haue sufficient warrant that it shall bee abolished Neither is this increase and multiplication of errour till it conquer sinceritie and truth and breake forth into open absurdities so strange a matter in the Church of God Thus you may read in the Valentine Councell In proemio Quorundā patrum vtilis fuit religiosa suggestio retractandi de his quae nec recipere possumus ob ecclesiae sanctitatem nec tamen vsquequaque consuetudinis causa damnare ita enim per omnes ecclesias eiusmodi vitiorum germen inoleuit vt ad plena remedia non facilis sit recursus Profitable and religious is the motion of certain Fathers concerning retracting those thinges which because of the holynesse of the Church we may not receiue and yet by reason of custome dare
as they were warned of their errour so are you as they without repentance lost the benefite of Christs sacrifice so shall you if the Fathers had been as often and plainely admonished as you haue been they would being holy and sincere men haue reformed their iudgement and keeping the head though they erred in some part the Lord will not impute that error vnto them And againe they erred not so wilfully as you and therefore we account not of them as of you who haue multiplyed your errours and left almost no one ground of pure religion vnshaken This is a sufficient answere to such beggarly petitioners yet his mouth will not be stopt till wee shew some of the Popish reuolts from Gods ancient truth to the seuerall heresies whereof Poperie consisteth To this end therefore we may remember the double condemnation of Eustathius in two seuerall councels Socrat. Hyst lib. 2 cap. 33. Casaria and Gangra for such Catholicke Articles as runne currant among Papists at this day as for example forbidding to marry abstinence from meats sundring men from their wiues and seruants from their Maisters vnder colour of Religion abhorring the blessing and communion of a married Priest and such like articles as were condemned most of them of all Churches vnder heauen 200. yeeres before Eustathius was borne for thus writes Apollonius a Martyr Euseb hystor lib. 5. cap. 16. speaking of the hereticke Montanus Hic est qui coniugia dissoluere docuit ieiuniorum leges praescripsit qui Pepuzam ac Tinium modicas ciuitates Phrygiae Ierusalem vocauit vt cunctos vndique ad illas congregaret qui pecuniarum exactores constituit qui sub pretextu nomine oblationum numerum captationem artificiosè concutus est qui salaria doctrinae praedicatoribus subministrauit vt per ventris studium doctrina ipsius inualesceret This is he which dissolued mariages prescribed lawes of fasting which called Pepuza and Tinium two little Cities of Phrygia Ierusalem that hee might gather men from euerie place thither which appointed exactors of money which vnder the pretence and name of offering did cunningly deuise to get gifts who ministred stipends to the preachers of his doctrine that so for his bellies sake his doctrine might be euerie where declared The same Father and Martyr sayth that his Prophets and Martyrs did extort money not onely from the rich but also from the poore euen widowes and Orphanes Marcion and Appelles forbad mariage as appeareth in Tertullian The Manichies were condemned first by Pope Leo and then by Gelasius as the first Fathers of communicating vnder one kinde De prescrip ad haeret Serm. 4. de quadrag In decret pontif distinct in cap. comperimus In Catalog dogm Manich. lib. de anima in fine Dialog 2. Contra Eutyc Can. 36. Haeres 70. The same heretickes were the Fathers of monkish idlenesse and therefore Epiphanius cals them Desidentes vespae nihil operantes c. Idle Waspes and doing no worke The Doctrine of Purgatory was first recōmended to Tertullian by the paraclet of Montanus The hereticke in Theodorets dialogues saith as the Papists doe Symbola dominici corporis saguinis post inuocationem sacerdotis mutantur alia fiunt The Symboles of the Lords bodie and blood after the inuocation of the Priest are changed and made other things And Pope Gelasius tels the hereticke Eutiches Non desinit esse substantia panis naturavini There ceaseth not to bee the substance of bread and the nature of wine The Counsell of Eliberis enacted that that which is worshipped should not bee painted vpon wals thereby condemning Popish Imagerie Epiphanius faith of the Audians * They vse great store of Apocryphall writings Epiphanius haeres 46. 47. 61. c. De preser advers haeret libro de baptis in fine Euseb hystor lib. 3. cap. vlt. lib. 2. cap. 15. De prescript advers haeret Irenaeus lib. 1. cap. 23. 24 lib. 3. cap. 2 Canus lib 3. cap. 3. fund 4. Bellarm. de verb. non script lib. 4. cap. 8. Vtuntur Apochryphis multis abunde The Tatians the Eucratifes the Apostolickes and such like heretickes were the first founders of single life and being so highly esteemed it tooke hold in time vpon the Church Womens baptisme which is currant in Poperie came first from heretickes wiues of whome Tertullian sayth that they were Procaces audentes docere contendere exercismos agere curationes repromittere forsitan tingere Malepart such as boldly tooke vpon them to teach to contend to exercise such as promised to cure diseases and perhaps also to baptize Papias a Chiliast was the first father and founder of Traditions and Peters primacie or Romish Episcopalitie Tertullian and Irenaeus tell vs that heretickes held the Apostles did not reueale Omnia omnibus sed quaedam palà m vniuersis quaedam secretò paucis All thinges to all men but some things openly and to all some thinges secretly to a few as namely Basilides Carpocrates Valentinus Marcion Carinthus And this is the opinion of Papists at this day This is sufficient for a tast that therby you may iudge how toothsome Poperie is that consisteth of these and many other such roots of bitternesse And that you may be yet better infourmed how the good corne of true religion may bee ouer-growne with the weeds of popish errours and heresies and yet in time get the victorie againe and ouer-maister them Cap. 2 19. the Church of Thyatira so highly commended in the Reuelation may bee a plaine document vnto vs which though it seemed to be euacuated by the Cataphrygian heresie Epipha haeres 51. yet a hundred yeeres after the Church reuiued againe and multiplyed and so by Gods mercie conquered the woman Iezabel and her hereticall Prophets euen so it fareth with the Church of God in generall for howsoeuer it pleased God for the punishment of our sinnes to giue Antichrist leaue by little and little to growe to such a height that at length hee ouer-shadowed and ouer-dropped all truth and sinceritie yet when God saw his time hee began to raise vp such worthy men as lopt off his braunches Daniel 4. and shooke off his leaues and scattered his fruit and so continueth and will continue to execute his iudgements vpon that man of sinne that in the end he will not leaue so much as the stumps of his roots in the earth Touching Puritanie which still this fellow quarrels withall when hee can prooue it to bee either a Church or a Religion by it selfe we will shape him an answere in the meane time let him know that no Protestant in England or out of England holds any doctrine necessarie to saluation but such as is warranted by Scripture neither are we left wholly to our selues in matters of discipline to appoint what wee thinke good Rom. 14.23 1. Cor. 14.26.40 but are guided by the generall rules of Gods word how to behaue our selues in the