contayneth a thankes-giuing to God for the same which thankes-giuing is the Sacrifice and calues of our lips May he not seeme worthy of a calues-head to his breakefast that being in a serious dispute of a Sacrifice would say that the thankes-giuing for a Sacrifice may trulie be called the very same Sacrifice it selfe for so a thankesgiuing for a howse may truly be called a howse and the thanksgiuing for a horse a horse it selfe and to say that the ancient Fathers so spake as M. PER. doth is to make them babes and too too vnskilfull how to speake Secondly saith he it may be called a Sacrifice because euery communicant doth there present himselfe an acceptable Sacrifice to God to worke in the practise of all dutiefull obedience You should haue said that the receiuing of the Lordes supper worthily might rather be called a Sacrifice then the supper it selfe if you put the reason of the Sacrifice only in the receiuers conceit and deuotion which is very different from the supper it selfe Thirdly saith he The Lordes supper is called a Sacrifice in respect of almesse giuen to the poore which was joyned with it and in this regard also the ancient Fathers haue called the Sacrament an vnbloudy Sacrifice and the table an Altar and the Ministers Priests and the whole action an Oblation not to God but to the congregation and not by the Priest alone but by the people I pray you take not the ancient Fathers for so simple as to thinke the Sacrament to be a Sacrifice because some almes might happily be then and there giuen to the poore For they teach that a Sacrifice is a soueraigne seruice done vnto God alone and not to be offered to any mortall creature Libr. 20. cont Faustum c. 21 Witnesse one S. Augustine for the rest who saith To that worship which is proper to God alone doth appertaine the offering of Sacrifice We doe in no sort offer any such thing or command it to be offered either to any Martir or any holy soule or Martir c. And what a dotage is it to dreame that Priests and Altars take their names of that that almes is giuen by lay-men to the poore at Masse time wherin there is neyther congruity nor likelihood at al nor hath he any author to warrant it For almes by the Apostles order was left vnto the disposition of Deacons Act. 6. In exhor ad castitatem Conc. 14. Conc. Carth. 4. cap. 4. Priests commonly did not medle in it at least it neuer was any essentiall point of their vocation Which was as Tertullian briefly defineth to teach to minister the Sacrament and to offer Sacrifice Nowe Deacons might not in any case offer Sacrifice as the whole Church in her purity defined at the Councel of Nice wherefore there is no colour to say that the vnbloudy Sacrifice Priests and Altars were so called in respect of almes giuen to the congregation we denie not but that deuout people offered at Masse time either bread and wine towardes the Sacrifice or money towardes the reliefe of the Priest and maintainance of the Altar but that was not called the Sacrifice of the Masse by the Fathers but distinguished from it expresly Witnesse that very place cited by M. PER. out of S. Augustine who comforting his friend pittifully lamenting the captiuity of three virgins Epist 122 taken prisoners and led away captiue by Infidels citeth the example of Azarias and his fellowe captiues in Babilon of whome honourable mention is made in Daniel Cap. 3. Whereupon he saith These virgins be in captiuity nowe as were then those Israelites in a heathen country where they could not sacrifice vnto our Lord after their lawe because Hierusalem was the only place where they might offer Sacrifice So saith he these virgins now cannot either carry an offering to the Altar of God or finde a Priest there by whome they may offer it to God These be his wordes by which he is so farre from saying that women did offer Sacrifice at the Altar as M. PER. falsely translateth ferre oblationem ad altare Dei that he plainely teacheth the contrarie the place of their captiuity affording them neither Altars nor Priests Now both those captiue Israelites in Babilon and these captiue virgins might and did deuoutly fast and pray and might also to their power giue almes and yet as testifieth S. Augustine they could not offer Sacrifice because they wanted a conuenient place Priestes and Altars wherevpon it followeth most euidently euen by the testimony which M. PER. alleadgeth for himselfe that the giuing of Almes and other godly deuotions of lay-men doe not make Priests and Altars or giue them their names but be most distinct thinges from them as shall more amply be shewed hereafter out of the ancient Fathers who make the Sacrifice of the Masse a most proper kinde of Sacrifice yet vnbloudie because ther is no bloud shed there but the body and bloud of Christ are offered vnder the formes of bread and wine not as M. PER. saith in his second conclusion in figure only and representation but also really and most truly We denie not the Sacrifice of Christes body in the Masse to be a representation of Christes suffering on the Crosse but affirme it to be such a representation as contayneth withall the same reall body there vnbloudily sacrificed which S. Augustine fully testifieth in these fewe wordes Libr. 20. con Faust cap. 18. Christians doe celebrate the memory of the Sacrifice already performed on the Crosse by the very holy Oblation and participation of the body of Christ we say therefore with the same author by M. PER. alleadged That Sacraments haue the resemblance of thinges whereof they are the Sacramentes but say further that besides the resemblance they containe also the thinges which they resemble As baptisme hath by washing the body outwardlie a resemblance of washing the soule inwardly from sinnes and withall doth when it is ministred truly wash and purge it from all sinne So that it is a foule kinde of reasoning in the matter of Sacraments to argue thus as the Protestants vse It is the signe or the representation of such a thing therefore the thing it selfe is not there present whereas the contrary is most certaine that it is the signe of such a thing ergo the thing it selfe is there present because all Sacraments of the newe Testament doe containe and worke that which they signifie as shall be more amply proued in his proper place Neither doe we denie but that by a true faith in Christ and his passion so it vvant not other necessary parts of Christian religion a man is made partaker of the merit of it But what is that against the Sacrifice of the Masse one truth doth not disproue an other but we shall heare the man perhaps argue more substantially anone when he draweth nearer the matter Thus much of our fained consents which M. PER. putteth downe to peruert the ancient
Commandements For as all men skilfull in the true nature of lawes doe hold there can be no just lawe that is impossible to be kept by the greater part of them to whome the lawe is giuen because lawes are both to direct our actions and doe also bind euery man to obserue them Nowe what reasonable lawe-maker will beate his braine to direct a man to doe that which he knoweth before hand not to lie in the mans power to doe and as tyrannical should he be esteemed that would bind a man vnder a great penalty to doe that which he knewe to be impossible for him to doe Which two points S. Augustine doth in one sentence confirme saying De fid cōt Manich. cap. 9. Who doth not crie out that it is folly to giue him Commandements in whose power it is not to performe them and who doth not say that it is vnjust to condemne him for not doing just thinges when he could not doe them The Protestantes therefore affirming the Commandements not to be possible to be performed doe make them no lawes at all and so they at one blow doe beate downe al the tenne Commandements But let vs come to the particulers 1. The first Commandement as it forbiddeth vs to worship false Gods so doth it also include a commandement to worshippe a right the only true God which is done principally by Faith Hope Charity and Religion The Protestants by their peruerting of many articles of our beliefe as hath bin shewed haue lost the true faith and by their newe certainety of faith leaue no place for hope for they are past hope of saluation that make themselues so assured of it as they doe 1. Epist. 5. vers 3. And as for charity which S. Iohn defineth to be the keeping of Gods Commandements they must needes confesse themselues to be farre from it which hold that to be impossible and with the principall part of true religion which consisteth in offering a true reall and externall sacrifice vnto God as in that question hath beene proued they are at vtter defiance 2. Touching the second Commandement after our account as God is honoured by swearing in justice judgement and truth so is he also by vowes made vnto him of Godly and religious duties which the Prophet Dauid signifieth Psal 75. vers 13. when he saith vowe ye and render your vowes vnto the Lord your God Here-vpon many Catholikes haue and doe continually vowe perpetuall pouerty chastity and obedience the more fully and freely to serue God which holy vowes the Protestantes disalowe wholy neither doe they allowe of any other vowes for ought I haue heard they doe therefore diminish the seruice of God and pare away a part of that which is reduced to the second Commandement 3. And whereas in the third we are commanded to keepe holy the Sabaoth day which is principally performed by hearing attentiuely and deuoutly that diuine seruice which was instituted by Christ and deliuered by his Apostles which is the holy Masse they may not abide it but serue God after the inuētion of their owne braines with a mingle-mangle of some old some newe odly patched together 4. In the fourth we are commanded to obey our Princes as well as our parents and all other our Gouernours in all lawfull matters yet the Protestantes hold that our Princes lawes doe not bind vs in conscience 5. The fift Commandement teacheth that no man be killed by priuate authority yet Protestantes hold it lawfull to take armes euen against their lawfull Princes for the aduancement of their Gospell and haue in that quarrell killed and caused to be killed millions in Germany France Flanders and Scotland 6. The sixt forbiddeth adultery which is allowed of by Protestants in some case For they permit one party after diuorcement to marry againe the other yet liuing Mar. 10. vers 11. whereas our Sauiour saith Whosoeuer dimisseth his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery vpon her And if the wife dimisse her husband and marry another she committeth adultery Moreouer incest is also forbidden in this Commandement nowe by the Canons of the Catholike Church and the authority of the ancient Fathers it is incest for one Cosen germaine to marry with an other yet is it not seldome practised yea it is generally allowed of in the Church of England 7. The seauenth Commandement condemneth with theft vsury al withholding of our neighbours goodes which was gotten vnlawfully yet Protestantes commonly make no conscience to take tenne in the hundreth which is plaine vsury and as for restitution of euill gotten goodes it is cleane out of fashion among them 8. The eight probibiteth vs to beare false witnesse against our neighbour and yet doe Ministers the master Protestants in their pulpit where truth should only be taught most commonly beare such safe witnesse against Catholikes that the very stones may be astonished at their most impudent slanders to wit that Papists beleeue in stockes and stones that they will not be saued by Christ and his passion but by their owne workes that they robbe God of his honour and giue it to Saints and a hundreth such like most notorious and palpable lies Wherefore as they Preachers be guilty of bearing false witnesse so the auditors deserue to be seduced by them who hearing them to lie so shamelesly in some thinges will neuerthelesse beleeue them in others 9. and 10. Of the ninth and tenth I haue spoken already wherein they erre grieuously in teaching euery man to sinne damnably by hauing any euill motion cast into his minde by the Diuell albeit he resisteth it presently and forthwith chase it away In which conflict ouercomming of temptation the grace and power of God is perfited as S. Paul witnesseth and S. Iames calleth the allurement of concupiscence temptation only and then first sinne when it conceiueth that is getteth some liking of the party Nowe to conclude this passage if you please to heare to what height of perfect obseruance of the Commandements the Euangelicall preachers haue brought their followers in Germany vnto by teaching the Cōmandements to be impossible and that only faith justifieth that good workes haue no reward in heauen and such like Iacobus Andreas a famous Lutheran shall enforme you who writeth thus De Planetis That the whole world may see these men alienated from the Papacy and to put no confidence in workes therefore they doe no good worke at all In stead of fasting they feast and are drunken day and night in lieu of Almes they oppresse pil the poore they haue changed praying into cursing blaspheming the name of God so prophanely that no Turkes nor Saracens commit the like impiety against Christ for humility there raigneth pride disdaine cruelty and riotte in apparell c. and much more to the same purpose And that this truth may be cōfirmed by the testimony of two sound witnesses Musculus a man of no small account among them thus reporteth of his Bretheren in the Lord.
vvas so commanded to doe by the formall lawes of those foure his temporall Soueraignes and so might without any offence to God haue beene nowe of the old religion then of the newe and againe of neither old nor newe but of a hotch-potch and mingle-mangle of some of the one and some of the other vvhich is most absurd euen so is that of which it followeth And to confirme this with some testimony of antiquity S. Ambrose a most firme pillar of the West Church spake resolutely vnto the Emperour Valentinian saying Epist 35. Trouble not your selfe ô Emperour with thinking that you haue any imperial jurisdiction ouer those thinges that be Diuine and Holy for the right of Ciuill causes was committed vnto you but not the chardge of Holy thinges And another his auncient S. Athanasius Epist ad solita vitaÌ„ ageÌ„tes the first of the foure Doctors of the Greeke Church doth reprehend the Emperour Constantius for intermedling vvith Ecclesiasticall causes and recordeth an notable saying of that venerable Bishop Hosius vvho vvas present at the first generall Councell of Nyce vnto the same Constantius to vvit Command vs not ô Emperour in this kinde of affaires rather learne these thinges of vs for God hath committed the Empire to your chardge but hath bequeathed vnto vs and put vs in trust with the affaires that appertayne vnto his Church And therefore vvould not that most renowmed Emperour Constantine the great judge of Bishops causes although the Bishops themselues referred theiâ— matter to him and requested him to compose them but said That it did not belong vnto him to judge them but to be judged by them vvhose blessed steps the most learned and juditious Emperours that followed him chose rather to followe then the euill example of his Arrian Sonne Constantius For Iustinianus the elder that famous lawe-maker faith vnto Iohn the second Pope of that name In Codice tit primo We doe not suffer any thing to passe that belongeth vnto the state of the Church but that we make it knowne vnto your Holynesse who are the head of all the holy Church And Valentinian the Emperour in an Epistle vnto Theodosius vvriteth We must in our times mainetaine the dignity of â—uâ— reuerence vnto the most blessed Apostle S. Peter Extat inter praeambulas ad Concil Chalced. so farre-forth as the most happy Bishop of Rome vnto whome antiquity hath yeelded the principality of Priestly office aboue all others may haue place and power to judge of matters of faith and of Priests And thus much by the way against the Supremacy of Princes in causes Ecclesiasticall It remayneth nowe that I briefly proue S. Peter to haue had this Supremacy in his time and that therein the Bishops of Rome doe succeede him And for a foundation of this Question I take that for an assured truth vvhich the best Philosophers doe grant and the practise of the best and greatest Kingdome hath confirmed to wit That in one Kingdome it is best to haue one King and supreme gouernour assisted with the counsell of his wisest subjects which is so well knowne and confessed generally that he must needes betaken for a vvrangler that will denie it nowe then to our purpose Christes Church is but one state or spirituall Kingdome vvhich hath but one faith one baptisme and forme of Sacraments one true religion and solemne manner of diuine seruice Nowe seing vve are not to doubt but that he who purchased himselfe this one Church with the shedding of his owne most pretious bloud would haue it gouerned in the best sort therefore we must confesse that he hath ordayned one supreme Gouernour of it They say that this supreme Pastor is Christ himselfe and that he is alwayes present with it in spirit and by his word vvherefore there needeth no deputy or other in his roome This I haue once before confuted graunting that Christ is present to his Church in spirit and that he doth inwardly quicken and gouerne it but that is not sufficient for vnlesse we haue one certayne person visibly present to assure vs vvhich is the vvord of God and what is the true sence of all doubtfull places of it we shall neuer haue vnity of faith for if they who mistake the true sence must be left to their owne judgement and the direction of their owne spirit which they beleeue to be guided with the holy Ghost then shall vve haue so many heresies currant in the Church as there be Archeretikes to coyne and stampe them The like may be said for Sacraments and sacred rites of religion the which without one Supreme Moderatour cannot be kept vniforme so that it resteth most cleare that our Sauiour Christ being to leaue this world and to returne vnto his heauenly Father he was to commit the high charge of his only Spouse and Doue vnto the custody and fidelity of one supreme Pastor This is confirmed by the example of the old Testament vvhich vvas a figure of the newe Deut. 17. ab 8. ad 13. vvhere the soueraigne and supreme authority of deciding all doubtfull questions that should arise about the lawe was by Gods expresse order giuen vnto the high Priests and euery Israelite bound vnder payne of death to obey him and stand to his sentence And that this Supremacy continued all along the state of the old Testament euen vntill Christes dayes both the Magdeburgenses and Caluin doe testifie Centur. 1. lib. 1. c. 7. Lib. 4. Instit ca. 6. But the Protestants object that some Iudges and Kinges of Iuda did take vpon them to deale in matters appertayning to religion I graunt that good Kinges as principall members of the temporalty ought to haue a speciall regard to the preseruation of the seruice of God and to see that matters of religion be duly ordered because the peaceable gouernement of their temporall affaires dependeth much vpon the concord piety and vertue of Ecclesiasticall persons and therefore they are to admonish and call vpon the Bishops and Gouernours of the Clergy to redresse all disorders among them but not to meddle by themselues as their superiours in spiritual causes so did those good Kinges of Israell as it is recorded of one of the best of their King Iosaphat who sought for reformation of Church matters 2. Paralip 19. But reserued the Presidency of those thinges which appertayne vnto God vnto Amarias the high Priest And nowe a-dayes we giue many priuiledges to Princes as the denomination of most Bishops and higher Magistrates of the Church that the two states spirituall and temporal may the better agree and liue more peaceably together S. Augustine also doth declare it to be the duty of Kings to defend the Church and her decrees and to punish with seuere lawes all Heretikes and other condemned by the Church But directly to the former objection let the places of the old Testament be perused where the authority and right of Kinges be specified and you shall not finde
in any one of them that they vvere to haue the supreme gouernement in cases Ecclesiasticall but where the first institution of Kinges is mentioned There they are willed to receiue the examplar and copy of the lawe Deut. 17. vers 18. from the Priests of the tribe of Leuy And in the same Chapter a little before All men are bound to take the true exposition of the same lawe not from the King but from the high Priest of the same tribe of Leuy Nowe if the Iewes being but one nation could not be kept in vnity of truth without one supreme Gouernour what diuision in faith and religion would there be among all the nations of Christendome which be so many and so diuers if there were not one supreme Pastor to vvhose finall sentence they should all be obedient and bound to stand first then it is euident that there must be one supreme Gouernour in the Church Nowe to goe one steppe forward this supreme authority was by our Sauiour Christ IESVS giuen vnto S. Peter which I will proue both by the promise and performance of it Math. 16. vers 15. The promise of this supremacy is recorded in these wordes Whome doe you say that I am Simon Peter answered and said thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God and IESVS answering said vnto him blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona because flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to thee but my Father which is in heauen And I say to thee that thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church c. Whence I reason thus That is the foundation in a building which is the head in a body and supreme Gouernour in a common-weale for the foundation is first laide and doth vphold all the rest of the building but our Sauiour promiseth to build the spirituall common-wealth of his Church vpon Peter as vpon a firme Rocke and foundation therefore he meant to make him the head and chiefe Pastor vnder himselfe of it Some answere that Christ said not that he would build his Church vpon Peter but vpon that Rocke which was himselfe because that Christ is called a Rocke 1. Cor. 10. Reply This cannot be for albeit Christ be the most firme foundation and chiefe corner stone of all that building yet hath it pleased him to appoint a Deputy and Vicar to gouerne in his absence vnder him and so to communicate his Titles in a certayne measure and degree vnto his seruants Math. 5. vers 15. He is the light of the world and yet saith he to his Apostles You are the light of the world He is the Pastor of our soules and he maketh them our Pastors so he is the Rocke that sustayneth all partes of the Church by his owne power and vertue but hath imparted to Peter that name to signifie that he should be made able to beare the person of his Vicar on earth and to rule vnder him and by vertue receiued from him the whole Church for his time Nowe the very course of the text doth conuince that the Rocke there specified cannot be Christ for it hath joyned vvith it the word this and vpon this Rocke which doth demonstrate and point out that vvhich was spoken of immediately before vvhich vvas Peter Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke c. Againe what congruity should there be in this sentence to beginne with Peter and to make shewe of bestowing some high reward on him for his noble confession and in the end of it to say that he would build his Church vpon himselfe Thirdly in the next sentence there is no question made but that Christ did promise to Peter the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen and not to reserue them to himselfe therefore most certayne it is that in the former sentence he promised to build his Church vpon Peter Finally in the Syriake tongue in vvhich our Sauiour then spake it is so playne that it cannot be doubted of for it is thou art Cephas and vpon this Cephas I wil build my Church nowe the vvord Cephas signifieth a rocke or stone Let vs to make the matter more manifest heare the judgement of some of the auncient and most learned Fathers of both the Greeke and Latin Church touching this exposition S. Epiphanius In Ancorate Our Lord made Peter the chiefe of the Apostles a firme Rocke vpon which the Church of God is builded S. Gregory Nazianzeno * Orat. de mod seruand in disput Peter is called a Rocke and hath the foundations of the Church committed vnto his fidelity S. Chrysostome a Hom. 55 in Math. Our Lord said thou art Peter and vpon thee will I build my Church S. Cyril b Lib. 2. in Iob. ca. 2. Christ fore-told that he should not be called Simon but Peter by the name it selfe fitly signifying that he would build his Church vpon him as on a Rocke and most sure stone S. Cyprian c Epist ad QuirinuÌ„ Our Lord did choose Peter the first or chiefest and vpon him did he build his Church S. Ambrose saith d Serm. 42 That Peter is called the Rocke both because he first of all laid the foundation in the actions of faith and also for that as an vnmoueable stone he doth sustayne and bold together the frame and burden of all the Christian worke S. Hierome vpon that place e Math. 16 According vnto the metaphor of a Rocke it is rightly said to Peter vpon thee will I build my Church S. Augustine sometimes indeede giueth an other interpretation but yet alloweth of this and leaueth it to the readers choise adding f Lib. 1. retract 21. That in his time that Hymne of S. Ambrose beganne to be chaunted publikely in the Church that the Cocke crowing the Rocke of the Church with teares washed away his fault so common was that exposition euen then that the Rocke of the Church was taken for a sufficient description of S. Peters person By these plaine sentences of the most approued Doctors of the church may be expounded some others more obscure vvhich say that vpon Peters faith or confession Christ built his Church in this manner for the excellency of Peters faith and confession he vvas chosen to be the rocke or foundation of the Church which is S. Basils owne interpretation who saith that Peter for the excellencie of his faith Lib. 2. in EunomiuÌ„ receaued the building of the Church vpon him And in true reason the Church being a congregation of men cannot be builded 〈…〉 qualities but must haue a man of the same nature to be her 〈…〉 indeede with such spiritâ— all and heauenly qualities or else it should not haue beene a proportionable and wel shaped body but some monster Neither can that other shift of the Protestants which M. PERKINS insiâ—â—â—teth serue their turne that forsooth what is sâ—â—a â—ere to S. Peter is vnderstood to haue beene spoken vnto all the rest of the Apostles For
of Christian religion to be vnderstood of euery man as his owne knowledge and spirit should direct him and if any doubtfull question did arise there about as he fore-sawe thousandes should doe yet he tooke no other order for the deciding and ending of them but that euery one should repaire vnto the same his word and doing his diligence to vnderstand it might afterward be his owne judge As this later opinion would argue our blessed Sauiour who was the wisedome of God to be the weakest and most improuident lawe-maker that euer was so the former doth mightily blemish the inestimable price of his most pretious bloud making it not of sufficient value to purchase vnto him an euerlasting inheritance free from all errours in matter of faith and abounding in all good workes To fold vp this part let me entreate thee curteous reader to be an vpright judge betweene the Protestantes doctrine and ours in this most weighty matter of Christes dignity vertues and mediation and if thou see most euidently that ours doth more aduance them why shouldest thou not giue sentence on our side They make Christ ignorant many yeares of his life we hold him from the first instant of his conception to haue beene replenished with most perfect knowledge They that he spake and taught nowe and then as other men did and was subject to disordinate passions We that he was most free from all such and that he taught alwaies most diuinely They make his very death not sufficient to redeeme vs we hold that the least thing that euer he suffered in his life deserued the redemption of many worldes They that he died only for the elect we that he died for all though many through their owne fault doe not receiue any benefit by his death They that thereby we are not purged from our sinnes but by imputation we that all are by the vertue thereof inwardly cleansed They that Christ purchased a Church consisting of fewe not to continue long and subject to many errours we that he established a Church that should be spredde ouer all the world and that should continue to the end of the world visibly and alwaies free from any errour in any matter of faith Finally they hold that Christ left his holy word to the disputation of men not taking any certaine order for the ending of controuersies that should arise about it we teach that he hath established a most assured meanes to decide all doubtes in religion and to hold all obedient Christians in perfect vniformity of both faith and manners And because I am entred into these comparisons giue me leaue to persist yet a litle longer in them Consider also I pray you who goe neerer to Atheisme either we that thinke and speake of the most sacred Trinity as the blessed Fathers in the first Councell of Nice taught or they who directly crosse them and by the nouelty of their phrases doe breed newe or rather reuiue old heresies against it Againe who carry a more holy conceit of God either they who vpon light occasion doe rashly denie God to be able to doe that which they doe not conceiue possible or we that teach him to be able to doe tenne thousand thinges that passe our vnderstanding Whither they that affirme God of his owne free choise to cast away the greater part of men or we that defend him to desire the saluation of all men and not to be willing that any one perish vnlesse it be through his owne default Either they that hold him to be the authour of all euill done in the world and the Diuell to be but his Minister therein or we that maintayne him to be so purely good that he cannot possibly either concurre to any euill or so much as once to thinke to doe any euill Finally whose opinion of him is better either ours that hold him to haue beene so reasonable in framing of his lawes that he doth by his grace make them easie to a willing minde or theirs that auouch him to haue giuen lawes impossible for the best men to keepe If some Protestantes doe say we doe not maintayne diuers of these positions I answere that it is because they doe yet in part hold with vs and are not so farre gone as they doe wholy followe their newe masters For if they did then should they embrace all the afore-said damnable positions being so plainely taught by their principall preachers and teachers These therefore are to warne my deere Country-men to looke to it in time and then no doubt but that all such as haue a sufficient care of their saluation considering maturely whither the current and streame of the newe Gospell carrieth them will speedily disbarke themselues thence least at length they be driuen by it into the bottomelesse gulfe of flat Atheisme And is it any great meruaile that the common sort of the Protestantes fall into so many foule absurdities touching religion when as the very fountaines out of which they pretend to take their religion be so pittifully corrupted I meane the sacred word of God Master Gregory Martin a Catholike man very skilfull in the learned languages hath discouered about two hundreth of their corruptions of the very text of Gods word and after him one Master Broughton a man of their owne esteemed to be singulerly seene in the Hebrewe and Greeke tongue hath aduertised them of more then eight hundreth faultes there in And the matter is so euident that the Kinges Majestie in that publike conference holden at Hampton-Court in the first of his raigne confesseth himselfe not to haue seene one true translation of the Bible in English and that of Geneua which they were wont to esteeme most to be the worst of all others and therefore commanded them to goe in hand with a newe translation about which fifty of the most learned amongst them in both Vniuersities as it is credibly reported haue this three yeares trauailed and cannot yet hitte vpon or else not agree vpon a newe sincere and true translation Here is a large field offered me to exclaime against such corrupters and deprauers of Gods sacred word but I will leaue that to some other time because I haue beene to long already But what a lamentable case is this they hold for the most assured piller of their faith that all matters of saluation must be fished out of the Scriptures and crie vpon all men to search the Scriptures and yet are the same Scriptures by themselues so peruersly mangled that their owne pew-fellowes crie out shame vpon them therefore wherevnto if it please you joyne that the Protestantes haue no assured meanes to be resolued of such doubtes and difficulties as they shall find in the same word of God For they must neither trust ancient Father nor relie vpon the determination either of nationall or generall Councell but euery faithfull man by himselfe examining the circumstances of the text and conferring other like places vnto it together shall finde out the
could but rake out of the ashes the least peeces of their burnt bones they did esteeme them more pure then gold and of greater value then pretious stones as in expresse tearmes is recorded in the Ecclesiasticall History of Eusebius Lib. 4. cap. 14. see what respect men in the purest antiquity carryed towardes the bodily reliques of Saints THE DIFFERENCE OVr dissent lyeth in the manner of worshipping the Papists make two degrees of religious worshippe c. Because the Protestants doe seeme not to vnderstand the Catholike doctrine concerning the worshipping of Saints but out of their affected ignorance doe esteeme vs therefore Idolaters I hold it expedient to explicate the state of this question more particulerly To beginne then with this word worshippe it doth signifie a knowledge or conceite of an other mans excellency joyned with a reuerent respect to the same person vvith some either inward or outward acknowledgement thereof so that all worshippe is due and done vnto an other in regard of some excellent quality which we suppose to be in him Nowe there being three most general kindes of excellency there must also be three seuerall and distinct sortes of worshippe correspondent vnto them The first and principall kinde of excellency is infinit and proper to God alone who is almighty infinitly wise and good the only Creatour supreame Gouernour and finall end of heauen and earth and of al thinges contayned in them therefore to him alone appertayneth infinit honour and glory and that supreame worshippe which the Latins vsing the Greeke word call Latria Godly honour Nowe to attribute or giue this soueraigne worshippe vnto any other then vnto God only is Idolatry the most haynous offence that can be The second sort of excellency I make the meanest of all absolute for of respectiue excellency which is in Images and such like holy thinges I haue spoken in that Chapter and that is to be found only in creatures indued with reason and vnderstanding in regard of some rare quality and endowment wherein they excell and surpasse others so that that excellent vertue and quality doe proceede only out of the naturall faculty and perfection of the party and doe not spring from any supernaturall gift therefore within the compasse of this sort of excellency I comprehend all natural perfections either of Men or Angels because all such issue out of one generall fountayne of a nature indued with reason and to this kinde of excellency is due a morall or ciuill obeysance or worshippe There is a third kinde of excellency seated betweene the two former extreames farre surpassing the naturall perfection of any pure creature and yet infinitly lesser then the diuine Majesty of God which consisteth in the perfection of Faith Hope Charity Religion and other such like gifts of the holy Ghost And to this kinde of excellency is due a different manner of worshippe which the Latins for distinction sake doe call Dulia Note that I say for distinction sake for both the wordes Latria and Dulia if they be taken in their first natiue signification may be giuen vnto any kinde of worship due to God or Man yet to auoide confusion the learned Diuines haue appropriated Latria vnto the worshippe of God and Dulia to signifie the honour due to Saints or Angels in regard of their supernaturall perfections To come nowe vnto the first point of our difference The Protestants doe commonly confound these two later kindes of vvorshippe and doe make but one of both the ciuill and supernaturall that they may skippe from the one of them to the other when they be driuen vnto their shifts and yet nothing is more cleare then that they be as distinct and different the one from the other as the grace of God is from the nature of a reasonable creature For as morall and ciuill worshippe only is due vnto that excellency vvhich ariseth out of the naturall power of man not assisted with any extraordinary grace of God such as was in the old Heathen Romans who for their valiant prowesse and politike gouerment deserued to be honoured worshipped euen so the fortitude of Christian Martirâ— the wisdome of Ecclesiasticall Prelates the power of diuers Confessors in curing all sortes of diseases and in working myracles These I say and the like diuine prerogatiues cannot but deserue a farre more excellent kinde of honour and worshippe then the former as they are more spirituall and heauenly qualities springing from a more excellent roote of the grace of God vvhich surpasseth in degree of excellency the nature of Angels without coÌ„parison who are but Gods seruants by nature though of greater perfection then we By grace they were made adopted sonnes of God and partakers of the diuine nature as S. Peter citeth it 2. Pet. â— vers 4. so as the Saints also were who therein were equall to Angels Wherefore Naaman the Syrian had reason to worshippe very humbly the Prophet Hâ—liseus who if we consider only ciuill excellency was but a meane person in respect of Naâ—man that was a principal commander ouer all the martial affaires of a potent King notwithstanding he truly weighing another more excellent kinde of power and wisdome in Heliseus then was in himselfe and another kinde of credit which he had which the God of heauen of farre greater estimation then that he had with his kinge did very dutifully humble himselfe before the Prophet All which conuinceth that there is in godly and holy personages another kinde of excellency aboue naturall reach to which is due a supernaturall reuerence and worshippe distinct from Ciuill the which spirituall and supernaturall worship we commonly call religious because it is giuen vnto holy men or Saints in consideration of their religious vertues of faith charity fortitude in defence of religion and of Ecclesiasticall superiority The tearme of religious worshippe the Protestants vtterly mislike pretending that all kinde of religious worship is due vnto God only but better men and greater clearkes then they by many degrees doe vse it in the very same sence as may be seene in diuers of S. Augustines workes L. 20. coÌ„t Faustum cap. 21. Let this one sentence suffice where he saith That Christian people doe celebrate the memories of Martirs with religious solemnity True it is that religious worship is sometime by the said holy father and others taken more strictly for the principall acts of religion which are proper vnto God alone and in that sence we deny it to be giuen vnto any creature but the same word is also not seldome vsed by them in a more large signification and applied vnto all thinges that belong to religion So we call religious men such as are specially chosen to serue God religious houses places where God is serued religious vertues such as issue out of the roote of religion and consequently religious honour or worship that is exhibited vnto men for their excellency in religious qualities and religious affaires So that any indifferent man
yea for Heathen Princes behold the first kinde of Mediatour For Christians that pray for all men by their intercession are meanes vnto God for conuersion of others and so may be called Mediatours in a good sence as Moyses saith of himselfe Deut. 5. vers 5. Gal. 3. vers 19. Act. 7. vers 35. Iudic. 3. vers 9. I was an intercessour and meanes or mediatour betweene our Lord and you And by S. Paul he is plainely called a Mediatour the law was ordayned by Angels in the hand of a Mediatour And by S. Stephen he is called a Redeemer as Othoniel is tearmed a Sauiour And that in this sence there may be many mediatours S. Cyril testifieth saying * In Ioh. l. 3. cap. 9. The Mediatour of God and man is IESVS Christ not only because he reconciled men vnto God but for that he is naturally both God and man in one person For by this meanes God reconciled our natures to him for otherwise howe should S. Paul haue said Christ to be the only Mediatour for many of the Saints haue vsed the ministery of mediation as S Paul himselfe crying vpon men to be reconciled to God and Moyses was a Mediatour for he ministred the lawe vnto the people and Ieremy was also a Mediatour when he stood before God and prayed for good thinges to the people Related in 2. Concil Nice art 4. What neede many wordes saith this great Doctor all the Prophets and Apostles were Mediatours VVith S. Cyril accordeth S. Basil who hoped for mercy at Gods handes and forgiuenesse of his sinnes by the mediation of the holy Prophets Apostles and Martirs And S. Bernard was of the same minde Serm. super sign◠magnum apparuit in coelo when he taught that we stand in neede of a Mediatour to the Mediatour and no one more for our profit and commodity then the blessed Virgin Mary so that this mediation and intercession of Saints is no whit at all injurious vnto the only mediation of Christ for it is of a farre different kind from Christes mediation and of the same sort as the prayers be of other good men liuing on earth who all sue vnto God in Christs name and hope to obtayne all and euery of them their petitions by the vertue of his merits and therefore all our prayers and theirs are commonly concluded thus Through our Lord IESVS Christ thy Sonne who with thee liueth and raigneth in the vnity of the holy Ghost God for euer and euer And thus much to M. PER. foundation laide vpon the sandes vvherein he so insolently renounced the Catholike doctrine but that I doe him no wrong I must here adde a coople of other arguments which he misplaced in the former question and therefore I reserued them to this The former All true inuocation and prayer made according vnto the will of God must haue a double foundation a commandement and a promise A commandement to moue vs to pray and a promise to assure vs that we shall be heard for euery prayer must be made in faith and without a commandement and promise there is no faith Vpon this infallible ground I conclude that we may not pray to Saints departed for in the Scripture there is no word either commanding vs to pray to them or assuring vs that we shall be heard when we pray Answere We deny that prayer requireth that double foundation of a commandement to pray and promise to be heard when we pray and that vpon the vvarrant of some of the best prayers that are recorded in holy Scripture When Abraham prayed for the sauing of Sodome and Gomorrha Gen. 18. vers 25. and did obtayne that if there had beene in them but tenne just persons their Cyties should not haue beene destroyed we reade neither of commandement giuen to Abraham to make that prayer nor any promise before he beganne it to be heard and this man was the Father of the faithfull and knewe much better then an hundreth M. PERKINS howe and when to pray And vvhen milde Moyses that most vvise conductor of the Israelites prayed vnto God so peremptorily that he would either blot him out of the booke of life or else pardon his people the Israelites Exod. 32. vers 32. had he either commandement so to pray or promise to be heard I am sure that they can shewe me none at all in the Scripture Nay God before entreated Moyses that he would not pray vnto him for them Ibidem vers 10. but suffer him to punish them according to their deserts promising to aduance Moyses exceedingly if he would giue ouer his suite neuerthelesse Moyses omitted not to pray most earnestly for the same people and vvas heard Neede vve any other proofe to ouerthrowe M. PER. rotten foundation And vvhen Iosue rather commanded then prayed Iosue 10. vers 12. that the Sunne should not moue against Gabaon and it stayed his course for a whole day space God obeying vnto the voice of man as the holy Ghost speaketh vvhat commandement or promise had Iosue for this and to omit an hundreth other like what promise had S. Paul to assure him to be heard 2. Cor. 12. vers 8. when he prayed not once but thrise that the pricke of the flesh should be taken away from him none at al I weene for his request would not be granted him By this the indifferent reader may perceiue how grosse the Protestants judgement is in matters of faith vvho take that for an infallible ground of religion vvhich is so contrary vnto the expresse vvord of God that nothing can be more Of faith necessary in prayer shall be spoken as soone as I haue dispatched an other text of Scripture misplaced here and misaplyed Math. 4. vers 10. We are saith M. PER. commanded to call vpon God only him only shalt thou serue This mans eies-sight beginneth to faile him much that cannot discerne betweene calling vpon and seruing when many a Master calleth vpon his man whome he doth not serue but is serued by him The text is already expounded out of S. Augustine that we must serue God only with Godly honour as the Greeke vvordes Latréyseis doth there notifie notwithstanding which only seruice euery seruant I hope may serue his Master and euery inferiour vvorship his superiour and so may we doe the Saints our betters in all goodnesse with such worship as is due vnto their singular gifts And as we may pray vnto men aliue vvithout derogation vnto God his only seruice so may we doe to the Saints departed But M. PER. fearing the weakenesse of this fortification secondeth it with an other out of the Apostle Rom. 10. vers 14. Howe shall we call vpon him in whome we haue not beleeued but we may not beleeue in Saints therefore we may not call vpon them I answere that we cannot call vpon any man for more then we beleeue to be in him and so much must we beleeue to be in euery man as
vers 12. considering his owne frailty Marry very good hope and confidence ought we all to haue in respect of Gods infinite mercy and goodnesse and in the inestimable merits of our Lord and Sauiour IESVS Christ but by faith we cannot beleeue it vnlesse God doe extraordinarylie reueale any such thing vnto vs which he doth to very fewe of his best beloued and best tryed seruants In the matter of our difference he saith first That we teach not faith to be a knowledge of thinges beleeued but a reuerent assent vnto them whether they be knowne or vnknowne But this he saith very vntruly for we hold faith in his owne nature to comprehend a certayne kinde of knowledge though not so cleare and euident yet of as great assurance as is the knowledge of naturall thinges but the man harpeth vpon something else if he could hitte on it We say indeede that it is not of necessity for the simpler sort and ignorant people to reade the holy Scriptures and to goe fish their faith out of that profound Ocean but may content themselues with their Pastors instructions and with their Catechismes and other bookes of piety and deuotion albeit we wish them of better vnderstanding if they be not too curious and wilfull to reade the holy Scriptures vvith reuerence seeking humbly to better their knowledge and especially to amend their liues and in places of difficulty not to trust vnto their owne wits but to referre themselues to the exposition of the Catholike Church which is the pillar and fortresse of truth and there vpon vvholy to rely Yet vve require much more knowledge in the simpler sort of people then the Protestants doe for we teach that euery one is to knowe expresly the 12. articles of the Apostles Creede the tenne Commandements and those Sacraments which they themselues are to receiue Further also all such lawes and ordinances of either the spirituall or temporall Gouernour which doe appertayne vnto their owne estate that they may knowe howe both in spirituall and temporall matters to carry themselues vvithout offence Let those our Authors which teach cases of conscience be consulted in those points and you shall finde them to charge euery man in conscience to knowe all these thinges whatsoeuer some men haue thought to the contrary who be not in that allowed but disproued euen by the testimony of that Authour Banes vvhome M. PERKINS quoteth And touching praying in Latin the lawes of the Catholike Church doth not bind any man to pray in Latin who is not first bound to learne the Latin tongue that is men in holy orders are bound to their Latin Breuiary but no man ignorant of the Latin tongue must be admitted vnto holy orders for them that are ignorant of the Latin tongue vve haue diuers bookes of English prayers vvherein they may exercise themselues fruitfully If any deuout women or others who vnderstand not Latin desire to reade some selected and approued Latin prayers we doe not forbidde them because those prayers haue many priuiledges aboue others And vve doubt not but that many of them doe reade the same Latin prayers with much more humility attention and eleuation of their mindes vnto God and all goodnesse then thousandes of Protestants or Puritans who reade and pronounce gallantly many glorious English prayers composed very curiously when their harts be farre from God Lastly he dissenteth from vs for that we say That some articles of faith were at the first beleeued generally by an infolded faith which afterward being by generall Councels vnfolded and declared to be articles of faith were beleeued expreslie This implicity of faith touching articles of religion M. PER. rejecteth saying That all matters of faith are contained plainelie in the Scriptures This he saith without probation and it is by me in the question of Traditions refuted already therefore to that place I referre the reader OF PVRGATORY OVR CONSENT M. PERKINS Page 278. WE hold a Christian Purgatory by which we vnderstand first the afflictions of Gods children here on earth secondly the bloud of Christ is a Purgatory for our sinnes and so Augustine calleth the mercy of God our Purgatory To this I say that the word Purgatory may be taken diuersly and signifie many thinges which because they be not to the present purpose may be here well omitted THE DIFFERENCE WE differ in two thinges first concerning the place the Catholikes hold it to be vnder the ground into which mens soules after this life doe enter This we deny as hauing no warrant in the word which mentioneth only two places for men after this life Luc. 16. v. 25.26 Ioh. 3. Apoc. 22. heauen and hell Here M. PER. beginneth the disproofe of Purgatory with his ordinary hackney it is not mentioned in the Scriptures To which I answere first that it is as shall be proued hereafter but if it were not yet were it to be beleeued because it vvas receiued by Tradition euen from the Apostles time Besides this fault in M. PER. argument there is another more childish to wit because there is no mention made of Purgatory in three or foure places by him quoted he concludeth that it hath no warrant at all in any other place of Scriptures as who should say there is no Doctor of Phisicke in two or three Colledges of Cambridge therefore there is not one in all the Vniuersity besides Finally Luc. 16. vers 25. the very first place by him cited ouerthroweth flatly his owne position it being truly vnderstood according vnto the generall exposition of the most learned Doctors for Abraham then was not in heauen but in a third place called Lymbo Patrum because before Christ had paid their ransome by his death on the crosse the Fathers of the old Testament were holden captiue and so of Christ it is said That ascending on high he ledde captiuity captiue Ephes 4. vers 8. Hebr. 9. v. 8. 15. And S. Paul proueth by the entring of the high Priest only into the second part of the Tabernacle called Sancta Sanctorum that the way of the Holies was not then manifested but by the bloud of Christ to be laid open and they by the death of the testatour to receiue the eternall redemption But this is by the way to shew the wisdome of the man to bring one text in controuersie to established another But he goeth forward and saith stoutly that there can be no place for Purgatory for that it is saide That they who dyed in the Lord Apoc. 14. vers 13. are bidden to rest from their labours which cannot be saith he if they goe into Purgatory And to cut off all cauils it is further said their workes that is the reward of their workes followe them euen at the heeles I answere first that we haue here by the way heauen to be the reward of workes by M. PER. confession which in the question of merits he denied most absolutely Secondly that albeit they who die in our
other shall come in his owne name him you receiue that is Antichrist but the Iewes haue not yet receiued the Bishop of Rome for their Messias Nay they take the Pope for the greatest enemy of their religion in the world and like much better of all them vvho vvith-drawe themselues from society in religion with him Vers 9. Finally it is there said that Christ with the spirit of his owne mouth shall kill that man with the manifestation of his aduene or comming whence the learned interpreters gather first that Antichrist shall be punished with a very extraordinary and exemplare death which hath not hapned to any of these Popes Secondly that Antichrist is to tyranize only some fewe yeares before the latter comming of Christ to judgement which cannot stand with the Protestants computation of Antichrists raigne which they drawe nine hundreth yeares in length already and yet are vncertayne howe much remayneth behind By this I hope you see howe well you may trust M. PER. on his word another time who blushed not to affirme all the circumstances of the man of sinne related in that Chapter to agree most fitly vnto the Pope of Rome when as not one sentence there penned by the Apostle doth touch him any whit at all but are only by the wresting of his enemies violently torne and cast vpon him Nowe to M. PERKINS last reason which is taken from the testimony of the auncient Church Cyprian saith De simpl Praelator Doubtlesse the same were the rest of the Apostles that Peter was indued with equall fellowship both of honour and power but a beginning is made of vnity that the Church may appeare to be one Answere Doubtlesse here is a prety peece of cosinage for the words are strooken out vvhich vvould haue made all playne against the Protestants for S. Cyprian there saith that the beginning proceedeth from one and the primacy is giuen to Peter that the Church may appeare to be one So that he allowing all the Apostles to be equall in honour being all of the same calling and power to preach the Gospell to all nations yet affirmeth the Supremacy to haue beene giuen vnto S. Peter that by that vnity of one head the Church might be kept perpetually in vnity of one faith and vniformity of religion Note howe his owne vvitnesse doth giue playne euidence against him Gregory saith If one be called vniuersall Bishop In regist lib. 6. epist 118. the vniuersall Church goeth to decay And cap. 144. I say boldly that whosoeuer calleth or desireth to call himselfe vniuersall Priest in his pride he is a fore-runner of Antichrist And lib. 7. cap. 30. Behold in the preface of your Epistle a proude title calling me vniuersall Pope Answere I could vvish that the cause might be determined by that blessed Bishop S. Gregories sentence it were then already gayned on our side for in those bookes of his Epistles he doth almost nothing else but declare the Popes Supremacy in ordering of all Ecclesiasticall matters and that ouer all Countries but whence the Bee sucketh hony thence also the Spider draweth some poyson They regard not what or how much he vvriteth there in fauour of the Supremacy but they thinke to haue some aduantage for their cause out of that vvhich he writeth against the name of vniuersall Bishop or Priest but they are miserably deceiued for one may very well be supreme head of the Church and yet not vniuersall Bishop as S. Gregory there taketh that word For he is only an vniuersall Bishop after S. Gregory who is Bishop in euery Diocesse of the vniuersall Church other Bishops being but his Suffraganes or Deputies such an vniuersall Bishop is not the Pope for excepting the speciall points of his prerogatiues he is not to intermedle with the particular businesse of my other Bishop within his Diocesse no more then the Archbishop of Canterbury is to deale with the gouernement of any other Bishop vnder him sauing in cases of his prerogatiue But euen as it appertayneth vnto the Metropolitane to compose the controuersies that may arise betweene the Bishops of his Prouince and to determine all such causes as by appeale or otherwise belong vnto his court to call a Prouinciall Councell and to confirme the decrees of it and to make Ecclesiasticall Canons and constitutions for his Prouince in like manner doth it appertayne vnto the supreme Pastor of the Church to appease and end all debates that shal happen betweene the Metropolitanes or Priuates to judge of some such matters of great moment that may by appeale be very worthylie referred to his court to call generall Councels and to be President in them to make Ecclesiasticall lawes for the vvhole Church in vvhich and such like matters the point of his Supremacy principally consisteth And these vvere all most carefully vndertaken and practised by S. Gregory though he misliked the name of vniuersal Bishop because that did seeme vnto him to exclude all other Bishops from their proper dignities and callings Lib. 7. epist 69. as he expoundeth himselfe saying If there be one vniuersall Bishop it remayneth that you be no Bishops And if you make one vniuersall Patriarke you depriue all the other Patriarkes of their title and dignity l. 4. ep 36. In this sence tooke S. Gregory the name of vniuersal and therefore did justly refuse it himselfe and very sharply reprehended the Patriarke of Constantinople for vsurping of it for although in a good sence it might haue beene attributed vnto the Sea of Rome who is supreme Pastor of the vniuersall Church yet it could not without apparant pride and arrogancy be vsed of the Patriarke of Constantinople who had nothing to doe vvithout the compasse and limits of his owne Patriarkeship The testimony of S. Bernard is easie to be answered for he saith only that Eugenius is not Lord of Bishops but one of them and that he is not to drawe all power to himselfe but to leaue to euery Bishop and Archbishop his bretheren in gouernement their proper causes all vvhich vve say with him But he returneth to Pope Gregory who saith That he was subject to the Emperours commandement and had euery way dischardged that which was due in that be had performed his allegeance vnto the Emperour and yet did not conceale what he thought in Gods behalfe Answere VVhy did he not cite the place where S. Gregory hath these wordes there lurketh some padde vnder that strawe but he might very well vse such wordes excepting the word allegeance which sauoureth of a false translation Per Ioh. Diaconū l. 4. c. 58. For S. Gregory as it is to be seene in his life was of so profound humility that he called all Priestes his Brothers al Clarkes his Sonnes and all lay-men his Lordes or Masters and so might well vvrite vnto the Emperour that he was subject to his commandements for it is an vsuall phrase both in Italy and France to call all their friendes requests
to that which M. PERKINS letteth fall by the way That though Peter excelled the rest of the twelue yet Paul passed him euery way this said he boldly and barely vvithout any authour or any shewe of proofe but let vs in kindnesse helpe him to proue it Galat. 2. vers 9. First S. Paul saith Iames. Cephas and Iohn who seemed to be the pillars gaue me and Barnabas the right hand of foâ—tery nowe if he were fellowe with the best he was not inferiour to Peter Answere In an orderly fellowship there is ordinarily one head and chiefe commander and so S. Paul might be very well admitted into that holy society and fellowship of preaching the Gospell and yet be vnder the President and Master of that Colledge or company S. Peter Secondly S. Paul further saith That the Gospell of the prepuce that is the preaching vnto the Gentils was committed vnto him as the chardge of the Israelites was vnto S. Peter therefore he was S. Peters equall at least and perhaps his better too because a larger commission was grounted vnto him Answere A partition of preaching the Gospell vnto all nations was made by common consent among the Apostles and it seemeth that S. Paul who was called afterward vvas admitted in S. Peters circuit or quarter vvhereupon for the more orderly proceeding in that blessed vvorke it was agreed vpon by them that S. Paul should haue principall care of the Gentils and S. Peter of the Iewes not that each of them might not also deale with both Iewes and Gentils for S. Peter was the first of all others that by reuelation from heauen did conuert the Gentils as he testifieth saying Act. 15. vers 7. Bretheren you knowe that God chose that by my mouth the Gentils should heare the word of God and beleeue yet because men commonly doe most tender and affect that vvhich is more specially committed to their charge to S. Paul were the Gentils recommended as to S. Peter the care of the Iewes But this might be very well done and yet S. Paul be inferiour vnto S. Peter and owe him a reuerent duty in the cases of supremacy as the Bishops of Canterbury and London haue charges of seuerall men and places yet is London to acknowledge Canterbury as his superiour And if the other Apostles who had also their diuisions and Diocesses a part were neuerthelesse inferiour vnto S. Peter so might S. Paul be notwithstanding his distinct charge Thirdly S. Paul resisted S. Peter to his face and reprehended him for walking amisse therefore he was rather his superiour Answere Not so for an inferiour by vvay of brotherly correction may in decent sort reprehend his superiour if he see him not to take good courses I knowe vvell that S. Hierome following the opinion of most of the Greeke Fathers doth cleare S. Peter of all fault holding it to haue beene but a set match betweene the two great Apostles that one of them for the instruction of others should reprehend the other But admitting with S. Augustine that S. Peter was worthy blame and therefore justly reprehended by S. Paul yet thence will followe no derogation to S. Peters dignity but great commendation of his humility as the holy Fathers of that opinion doe gather Of it thus writeth S. Cyprian Epist 71. ad Quintum Neyther did Peter whome our Lord chose the first and vpon whome he built his Church when Paul disputed with him about circumcision arrogate to himselfe any thing saying that he bad primacy and therefore the latter disciple ought rather to obey him but tooke it in good part S. Augustine saith Peter gaue to his posterity a more rare and holy example Epist 19. ad HieroÌ„ that they should not disdayne to be corrected of their juniours then Paul that inferiours sauing their charity might confidently resist their superiours for the defence of truth And S. Gregory the great speaking of S. Peter saith Hom. 18. in Ezech. He yeelded vnto his inferiour brother and in that matter became a follower of his juniour to the end he might excell in this point that he who chiefest in the toppe of the Apostleship might be chiefest also in humility Thus much of S. Peters supremacy Nowe that the Popes of Rome doe succeede him in the same authority First that this Monarchy and soueraigne authority of one ouer all the rest vvas not to expire and end with S. Peter as M. PER. dreameth but to continue in Christes Church vntill the end of the world is cleare and euident to them vvho consider that this Supremacy was not giuen vnto S. Peter principally for his owne honour and aduancement but for the benefit of the Church to preserue and maintayne vnity and peace among all her louing and obedient children according vnto that of S. Hierome Among the twelue Apostles one is chosen L. 1. cont Iouinian that a head being established the occasion of schisme and diuision might be preuented and taken away If therefore it vvas thought necessary vnto the vvisdome of God Christ IESVS to appoint one head among the Apostles and a fewe of the best Christians vvho had the first fruites of his holy spirit to cut off dissention and to maintayne peace how much more neede hath there beene euer sithence of one supreme Pastor and moderatour of controuersies vvhen the number of Christians is so greatly increased and such variety of nations are ingrafted incorporated into it when through the diuersity of wits and judgements and the decay of charity there must needes be a thousand times more neede of the supreme authority of some one to hold all the rest together in the vnity of faith and religion Againe in the old Testament and lawe of Moyses which was a figure of the new the same forme of gouernement by one head and finall judge in spirituall matters vvas at the first established and continued euer after vvithout alteration till Christes first comming Euen so must the same Ecclesiasticall Hierarchy which our blessed Sauiour hath demised framed and founded stand alwaies firme and inviolable vntil his second comming for he hath built it vpon so firme a Rocke that hell gates shall not preuaile against it vvhich may be further confirmed if we vveigh vvell of vvhat moment and importance it is to alter and change the forme of gouernement For it is of no lesse moment then to alter the whole estate of Christs common-weale the very essence forme and vnity of a publike state consisting principally in the manner and order of ruling of it vvhich alteration and variety to imagine to haue hapned in Christs Church is to make many seames in his vnsowed garments or rather to rippe it and rent the vnity thereof into many peeces It being therefore a most certayne truth that the same supreme gouernement vvhich S. Peter had ouer the rest vvas to continue alwayes in Christes Church it followeth as plainely that the Bishops of Rome vvere to succeede him in that
himselfe As for example when a man is asked whether he said or heard Masse in such a place though he did he may say that he did not and sweare to it meaning he was not there to reueale it to him whereas in the law of nature he that taketh an oath should sweare according vnto the intention of him that hath power to minister an oath and that in truth justice and judgement Let them cleare their doctrine from all defence of perjury if they can Answere If he had cited but one author you should haue heard a ful satisfaction of this matter The truth is that swearing a truth in his meaning that sweareth it although it be against the intention of him that ministreth the oath may be lawfully vsed in two cases The first if he that ministreth the oath haue not sufficient authority to minister it The second when hauing authority he asketh something beyond the order of lawe and against justice then he that sweareth is excused by the rule touched by M. PERK himselfe because a man must sweare as in truth so in justice that is to doe or say nothing againg justice And so when one enquireth after saying or hearing Masse as of a haynous crime to punish good Christians for it the man is bound not to reueale it as being against true justice to make his neighbour punished for so holy a fact The sixt sinne is that they reuerse many of Gods Commandements making that noâ— sinne which Gods word maketh a sinne for example If one steale some little thing that causeth no notable hurt that is no mortall sinne Molanus and a merry or officious lie is but a veniall sinne c. If Catholikes make stealing of thinges of smale value and officious lies veniall sinnes then M. PER. committeth herein a mortall sinne in belying them so maliciously as to affirme them to make that no sinne which Gods word maketh a sinne seeing that by his owne confession vve make them and such like sinnes though not so haynous because there is lesse malice in them He goeth on lying vvhen he affirmeth vs to say that none is bound to salute his enemy for we hold all men bound to salute their enemies and to afford them all common duties of ciuillity and though it be but a counsell to yeeld them the extraordinary offices of friendshippe yet vve hold that it is much more Christan-like so to doe As for rash judgement sodainely giuen without aduisement I see not howe it can be more then a veniall sinne for the party considering better of the matter changeth his opinion straight way and so doth his neighbour no vvrong And if it be the part of a wise man sometimes to dissemble according vnto that saying of the wise Sapientis est loco dissimulare then surely is it better to dissemble and fayne holynesse then wickednesse As for painting of the face in a moderate and modest fashion to amend the fauour vvhen it is done without any euill end or purpose and without scandall I see not howe one can make any more of it then a veniall sinne but to daube the countenance so as some leude women doe to allure men thereby to vnlawfull lust is without doubt very damnable and for no other is taken of Catholikes Touching begging let him name who holdeth it for vnlawfull to prohibite and forbidde it if sufficient meanes be otherwise prouided for the mainetaynance of the poore for I knowe none such True it is because the truth it selfe hath so said That we shall haue alwayes the poore among vs. Mat. 26. vers 11. But who doubteth but that it is much better to prouide for them charitably in some certayne places of aboade then to suffer them to wander vp and downe idly and to liue dissolutely as the greater part of them are thought to doe Moreouer no authour can be truly said to vphold or excuse blasphemy or swearing though vvhen they deliuer their opinions in schooles concerning that matter they affirme that rash cholerike othes not being vsuall are no mortall sinnes because they breake out in manner against a mans vvil choler for the time troubling and hindering the vse of reason M. PERKINS doth lastly charge our writers with manifest lying to justifie our doctrine in that they pleade all antiquity to be on our sides whereas saith he it is as much for them as for vs. Hereof he yeeldeth no proofe and no maruaile for many of his bretheren are ashamed to denie this and doe ingeniously confesse that in many points of religion the auncient Fathers are wholy for vs. And in no one point that I can heare off will he or any of his pew-fellowes be tryed by the judgement and consent of antiquity vvhich is a most manifest proofe that in their owne conscience they knowe wel enough that al antiquity is flat against them else vvhy should they so feare to stand vnto their most vpright determination and so fleete and flie from it vvhich point vvell considered off is alone sufficient to disswade any man from their newe doctrine For it not agreeing with the doctrine of pure antiquity must needes be false and wicked because that was most true holy and good And the holy Ghost doth not nowe teach one to be true and afterward change After his Lastly he hath Againe that our manner is to proue our opinions by forged and counterfeit writinges of men namely by S. Iames liturgie by the Canons of the Apostles by the bookes of Dionisius Ariopagita and so forth reckoning vp some one and twenty peeces which he calleth counterfeit but he goeth not about to proue any one of them to be forged It may therefore suffice for answere that when he or any other shall vndertake to proue that we vse any forged writinges to confirme our doctrine they shall God willing be answered In the meane season the better to content such weaklings I haue not past once to my remembrance alleaged any sentence out of these bookes by him suspected for counterfeit And as touching the marrying of a Catholike vvith a Protestant we dislike it more then many Ministers who will make no bones to marrie them togither which no Catholike Priest wil doe Finally we accord with him in leagues of amity as he tearmeth them and hold that Catholike and Protestant Princes may not combine in league to defend each other in all causes or else one should stand bound to aide the other sometimes against both honesty and religion which were very absurd So as where M. PERKINS saith well vvhich he doth seldome in this booke of his I willingly agree vvith him not sparing on the other side to reprehend that which he speaketh against the truth vvhich all indifferent men will I hope take to be honest vpright dealing Here endeth his booke vvere it not that after finis put to it he addeth a further Aduertisement which may not be left vnanswered vvherefore I haue annexed hereunto both it and the answere
before I come to the full period of this worke Curteous Reader BEARE WITH THE FAVLTS IN PRINTING WHICH CAN HARDLY BE FEW CONSIDERING THE MANIFOLD DIFFICVLTIES OF THE time And yet besides the ouer-sights in pointing are not very many which be thus corrected IN THE MARGENT THESE Generally a ss is set in the quotation of Caluins Institution for the Section or Number For. Page Reade Beza in Neoph. 9. in Creophag simil ibid. Simler sess 17. 2. 11. number 1. 2. Homil. in praeâ—rat 48. In priorem ad Corint Conc. 56. Canon IN THE TEXT THESE For. Page Line Reade declared 7 15 declare Atheisme 20 9 Atheismes was this 40 35 was it pithagorically 63. 22 pithagoricall I say to solemnely 86 22 to be solemnely Euchirines 135 24 Eucherius established 145 17 establish Cesanis 155 39 Caesarius Pomachius 156 1 Pamachius demised 180 18 deuised proofe 181 16 disproofe The quotation of S. Augustine which is in psalm 33. conc 2. is omitted in the 68. page Hier. cont Lucif cap. 6. wanteth page 209. And in the Aduertisment page the 25. for apud Dionysium 1. Cor. reade apud Ludolphum de vita Christi part 1. cap. 5. pag. 17. AN ANSVVERE VNTO M. PERKINS ADVERTISEMENT M. PERKINS Aduertisement to all fauourers of the Roman religion shewing as he weeneth that the said Religion is against the Catholike principles of the Catechisme that hath beene agreed vpon euer since the dayes of the Apostles by al Churches which principles be fowre The Apostles Creede the tenne Commandements the Lordes prayer the institution of two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lordes supper 1. COR. 11. vers 23. I HAD once determined to haue wholy omitted this goodly post-script because it containeth in manner nothing else but an irkesome repetition of that which hath beene I will not say twise before but more then twenty times handled ouer and ouer in this former small treatise notwithstanding considering both howe ready many are when they see any thing omitted to say that it could not be answered and also for that these pointes here reiterated are the most odious that he could cull out of all the rest to vrge against vs I finally resolued to giue them a short answere And further also by prouing their newe religion to be very opposite vnto those old groundes of the true religion to requite him with the like that I die not in his debt Thus he beginneth The Roman religion established by the Councell of Trent is in the principall pointes thereof against the very groundes of the Catechisme the Creede the tenne Commandements the Lordes prayer the two Sacraments THE Catholike religion embraced and defended by the Church of Rome was planted and established there by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul fifteene hundreth yeares before the Councell of Trent and hath beene euer sithence by the Bishops of Rome their lawfull successors constantly reteined and most sincerely obserued and maintayned some articles thereof called into question by the Heretikes of this latter age were in that most learned generall Councell of Trent declared and defined And great meruaile it were if the principall pointes thereof should be against the groundes of the Catechisme which is in euery point most substantially expounded by the decree and order of the very same Councell Or is it credible that the Church of Rome with which all other ancient Churches and holy Fathers did desire to agree and which hath beene euer most diligent to obserue all Apostolicall traditions should in the principall points of faith crosse and destroy the very principles of that religion that hath beene agreed vpon by all Churches euer since the Apostles daies as he saith Is it not much more likely and probable that the Protestantes who slaunder all Churches euer since the time of the Apostles with some kind of corruption or other and who hold no kind of Apostolicall tradition to be necessary is it not I say more credible that they should shake those groundes of faith which come by tradition from the Apostles and haue beene euer since by all Churches agreed vpon I suppose that fewe men of any indifferent judgement can thinke the contrarie But let vs descend to the particulers wherein the truth will appeare more plainely Thus beginneth Master PERKINS with the Creede First of all it must be considered that some of the principall doctrines beleeued in the Church of Rome are that the Bishoppe of Rome is the Vicar of Christ and head of the Catholike Church that there is a fire of Purgatory that Images of God and Saintes are to be placed in the Church and worshipped that prayer is to be made to Saintes departed that there is a propitiatory sacrifice daylie offered in the Masse for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead These pointes are of that moment that without them the Roman religion cannot stand c. And yet marke the Apostles Creede which hath beene thought to contayne all necessary pointes of religion to be beleeued and hath therefore beene called the key and rule of faith This Creede I say hath not any of these pointes nor the expositions made thereof by the ancient Fathers nor any other Creede or confession of faith made by any Councell or Church for the space of many hundreth yeares This is a plaine proofe to any indifferent man that these be newe articles of faith neuer knowne in the Apostolike Church and that the Fathers and Councels could not finde any such articles of faith in the bookes of the old and newe Testament Answere is made that all these points of doctrine are beleeued vnder the article I beleeue the Catholike Church the meaning whereof they will haue to be this I beleeue all thinges which the Catholike Church holdeth and teacheth to be beleeued If this be as they say we must beleeue in the Church that is put our confidence in the Church for the manifestation and the certainety of all doctrine necessary to saluation And thus the eternall truth of God the creatour shall depend vpon the determination of the creature And the written word of God in this respect is made insufficient as though it had not plainely reuealed all points of doctrine pertaining to saluation And the ancient Churches haue beene farre ouer-seene that did not propound the former pointes to be beleeued as articles of faith but left them to these later times Thus farre Master PERKINS Wherein are hudled vp many thinges confusedly I will answere briefly and distinctlie to euery point The first is that in the Apostles Creede are contained all pointes of religion necessary to be beleeued which is most apparantly false as the Protestantes themselues must needes confesse or else graunt that it is not necessary to beleeue the King to be Supreame-head of the Church or that the Church is to be gouerned by Bishops or that vve are justified by Christes justice imputed to vs or that there be but two Sacramentes or that the Church seruice must be said in the
vulgar tongue or that all thinges necessary to be beleeued to saluation are contained in the Scriptures To be short not one article of their religion which is contrary to ours is contained in this Creede of the Apostles therefore to affirme as de doth all necessarie pointes of religion to be contained in this Creede is to cast their owne religion flat to the ground and to teach that not one point of it is to be beleeued this Creede may neuerthelesse be called the key and rule of faith because it containeth the principall pointes of the Christian religion and doth open as it were the doore vnto all the rest and guide a man certainely vnto the knowledge of them by teaching vs to beleeue the Catholike Church 1. Tim. 3. vers 15. Ioh. 16. vers 13. which being the piller and ground of truth directed and guided by the spirit of truth will alwaies instruct her obedient children in all truth necessary to saluation Then saith Master PERKINS The eternal truth of God the creatour shal depend on the determination of the creature Nothing lesse for Gods truth is most sincere and certaine in it selfe before anie declaration of the Church but vve poore creatures that are subject to mistaking and errour should not so certaynelie vnderstand and knowe that truth of God vnlesse he had ordained and appointed such a skilfull and faithfull Mistris and interpreter to assure vs both what is his word and what is the true meaning of it Like as pure gold is not made perfect in it selfe by the Gold-smithes touch-stone but other men are thereby assured that it is true and pure gold euen so the word of God doth not borrowe his truth from the Church but the true children of God are by the holie Church assured which is the same his word If we did hold as we doe not that the written vvord contayneth all pointes of doctrine necessarie to saluation yet vvere it most necessarie to relie vpon the Catholike Churches declaration both to be assured which bookes of Scriptures be Canonicall which not whereupon S. Augustine a man of farre better judgement then any of these daies said Con. Epist Iud. cap. 5. that he would not beleeue the Gospell vnlesse the authority of the Church moued him thereunto as also to vnderstand them truly because the wordes of holy Scripture without the true meaning and sence of them doe but deceiue men and leade them into errour and to that end haue alwaies beene and yet are by Heretikes abused to drawe others after them into destruction The like may be said of other ancient Creedes and confessions of faith which holding the Apostles Creede did adde some fewe pointes vnto it namely such as were in those daies called into question by Heretikes of greater fame and who were followed of many not touching in particuler diuers other articles generally beleeued of all true Christians or else by some fewe and obscure men only questioned Wherefore to argue that no other pointes of faith are to be beleeued but such as are expressed in ancient Creedes is to cut of a great part of our faith Lastly it is most vntrue to say that those ancient Fathers and Councels knewe not of these articles of faith by him mentioned for they haue most plainely taught them in their writinges yea and expresly condemned of heresie most of the contrary positions nowe againe reuiued and holden by the Protestantes as in those seuerall questions I haue before proued Touching beleeuing in the Church which he thrusteth in by the way we vse not that phrase as the very Creede sheweth following therein S. Augustine with others who hold that to beleeue in a thing is to make it our creatour by giuing our whole hart vnto it in which sence we beleeue not in Saintes nor in the Church albeit some other ancient Doctors take the wordes to beleeue in not so precisely but say that me may beleeue in the Church in Saintes that is beleeue certainely that the Catholike Church is the only true company of Christians and that to the lawfull gouernours thereof it appertaineth to declare both which bookes be Canonicall and what is the true meaning of all doubtfull places in them so we beleeue the Saintes in heauen to heare our prayers to be carefull to pray for vs to be able to obtaine by intreaty much at Gods handes in whose high fauour they liue Thus much in answere vnto that which M. PER. objecteth in generall nowe to that he saith in particuler He chargeth vs first with the breach of the third article Conceiued by the holy Ghost Which saith he is ouerturned by the transubstantiation of bread and wine in the Masse into the body and bloud of Christ for here we are taught to confesse the true and perpetuall incarnation of Christ beginning in his conception and neuer ending afterward Answ Here is a strange exposition of the Creede Is Christes incarnation perpetuall and not yet ended then it is true to say that Christ is not yet incarnate as we may say truly that a man is not borne vntill his birth be accomplished and ended But to the present purpose because Christes incarnation beganne at his conception cannot bread be turned afterward into his body how hangeth this together Belike he meanes that Christes body was but once conceiued and that was by the holy Ghost in his mothers wombe therefore it cannot afterward be made of any other thing This to be his meaning he declares in the question of the Sacrament but it is too too simple and childish For we hold him not to be so conceiued by bread as he was by the holy Ghost who was the efficient cause of his conception but that the same body that was cōceiued by the holy Ghost is made really present in the Sacrament by transubstantiation of bread into it which hath no opposition at al with this article as I haue more largely proued in the foresaid question And whereas he saith further cleane besides the purpose of this article that Christes body hath the essentiall properties of a true body standing of flesh and bone we grant the same but when he addeth that local circumscription cannot be seuered from a body he is deceiued for the greatest body of all others which is the highest heauen is not circumscribed by any place because there is no other body without it whose extreamities might compasse in and circumscribe that body of the highest heauen And when he saith that to be circumscribed in place is an essentiall property of euery quantity and that quantity is the common essence of euery body he makes himselfe but a common mocking-stocke vnto euery simple Logitian who knoweth that no accident such as euery quantity is can be of the essence and nature of a substance such as Christes body is Neither would any man say that cared what he said that to be circumscribed in a place is essentiall to euery quantity when all numbers that be quantities
haue no relation vnto any place neither is it of the essence of any quantity to be actually circumscribed by a place but it is a property flowing out of the essence of one only kinde of quantity to be apt and fit to be circumscribed and compassed about with a place And naturally all bodies except the highest heauen haue one place out of which they passe as S. Augustine said when they come into another but by the omnipotent power of God any body may be separated from his place or be in as many places at once as it shal please God to seate it because to be circumscribed with a place actually is a meere accident vnto a substantiall body and without the nature of quantity and God may not without blasphemie be disabled to seperate a substance from an accident By this is confuted also his second instance Christ is ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father therefore his body is not really and locally in the Sacrament This followeth not because it is in both places at once as S. Chrisostome in expresse tearmes teacheth Chris lib. 3. de Sacerd O miracle O goodnesse of God! he that sitteth aboue with his Father at the very same instant is touched with the handes of all men and giueth himselfe to them that will receiue and embrace him See more of this in the question of the blessed Sacrament where M. PERKINS citeth the very same authorities which he here repeteth see my answere to them there Thirdly he reasoneth thus In that we beleeue the Catholike Church it followeth that it is inuisible because thinges seene are not beleeued We answere that the persons in the Catholike Church are and euer were visible euen to Iewes and Heathens who persecuted them but the inward indowmentes of those persons that is their faith hope and charitie their assistance by Gods spirit and such like Christian qualities are inuisible and to be beleeued And euen as a man is truly said to be visible though he consist aswell of an inuisible soule as of a visible body so the Church is visible for the visible persons visible teaching and administring of Sacraments in it albeit the inward qualities of it be not visible His last objection against vs out of the Creede is That the articles of remission of sinnes resurrection of the body and life euerlasting containe a confession of speciall faith For the meaning of them is thus much I beleeue the remission of mine owne sinnes and the resurrection of mine owne body to life euerlasting Answere That is not the meaning vnlesse you adde some conditions to wit I beleeue the remission of my sinnes if I haue duly vsed the meanes ordained by our Sauiour for the remission of them which is after Baptisme the Sacrament of Penance Item I beleeue I shal haue life euerlasting if I keepe as Christ willed the yong-man to keepe Gods commandements or at the least if I doe die with true repentance Nowe whether I haue done or shall doe these thinges required of me I am not so well assured as that I can beleeue it for I may be deceiued therein but I haue or may haue a very good hope by the grace of God to performe them Neither is there any more to be gathered out of S. Augustine as some of the wordes by himselfe here alleaged doe conuince For he requireth besides faith that we turne from our sinnes conforme our will to Gods will and abide in the lappe of the Catholike Church and so at length we shall be healed See the question of certainety of saluation Note also by the way the vncertainetie of M. PER. doctrine Pag. 270. 275. concerning this point for he holdeth that it is not necessary to haue a certaine perswasion of our owne saluation but that it is sufficient to haue a desire to haue it and that doctrine he putteth there as he saith himselfe to expound the Catechismes that propound faith at so high a reach as fewe can attaine vnto yet here and else where the good man forgetting himselfe chargeth vs to crosse the Creede because we doe not wrest faith vp to so high a straine and so in heate of quarelling often expoundeth this contrary to his owne rule Nowe for proofe of S. Augustines opinion herein whome he only citeth take these two sentences for the two points he speaketh of For the first that we be certaine by ordinary faith of our saluation let this serue Of life euerlasting De bono perseuer cap. 22. De correct grat cap. 13. which God that cannot lie hath promised to his children no man can be secure and out of danger before his life be ended which is a tentation vpon earth Secondly that a man once truly justified may afterward fall We must beleeue saith this holie Father that certaine of the children of perdition doe liue in faith that worketh by charity and so doe for a time liue faithfully and justly they were then truly justified and yet afterward doe fall and that finally because he calleth then the children of perdition Thus much in answere vnto that which Master PERKINS objecteth against our religion out of the Creede which as you haue seene consisteth wholy vpon his owne forced exposition and vaine illations Hence he proceedeth to the tenne Commandements But before I followe him thither I may not omitte here to declare howe the Protestant Doctors doe fouly mangle and in manner ouer-turne the greatest part of the Creede Obserue first that according to their common doctrine it is not necessary to beleeue this Creede at all because it is no part of the written word secondly that Caluin doubteth whether it were made by the Apostles or no Cal. lib. 2. Instit cap. 16. sess 18 being then no part of the written word not made by the Apostles it must by their doctrine be wholy rejected Nowe to the particulers 1. Concerning the first article I beleeue in God the Father almighty maker of heauen and earth they doe erre many waies First they doe destroy the most simple vnitie of the God-head Confess fidei gener by teaching the diuine essence to be really distinguished into three persons If the diuine nature be really distinguished into three there must needes be three diuine essences or natures ergo three Gods Caluin also saith In actis Serueti pag. 872. that the Sonne of God hath a distinct substance from his Father Melancthon that there be aswell three diuine natures as three persons in locis de Christo Secondly they ouerthrowe the Father in the God-head by denying the Sonne of God to haue receiued the diuine nature from his Father as Caluin Beza and Whitakers doe See the Preface Thirdly howe is God almightie if he cannot doe all thinges that haue no manifest repugnance in them But he cannot after the opinion of diuers of them make a body to be without locall circumscription or to be in two places at once which notwithstanding some others of
let vs proceede on with the Protestantes opinion did Christes sufferinges of the tormentes of hell deserue of God in justice the redemption of man not so if we may beleeue one of Foxes Martirs who held as he recordeth that Christ with all his workes could not meritte heauen for vs. But for that litle credit is to be giuen to such a Martir Actes monuments pag. 487 and such a Martir-monger let vs heare what some of the learnest amongst them say I truly confesse saith Caluin that if a man will set Christ singly and by himselfe against the judgements of God there wil be no roome for merit And after L. 2. Insti c. 17. ss 1. In abster calumni Heshu Christ could not deserue any thing but by the good pleasure of God Finally the deseruinges of Christ depend vpon the only grace of God which is defended by his disciple Beza against Heshusius so that briefly all Christes sufferinges in hell and out of hell in true Protestant reckoning amount to no higher a value then that by the good pleasure and acceptance of God they deserued our redemption therefore in rigour of justice they were not of sufficient worth to redeeme vs but were only of grace by God accepted for such Is not here a faire reckoning so might any other man endued with grace haue redeemed al mankinde as well as Christ if it had pleased God to haue so accepted it seing no equall recompence was to be expected But to helpe him here by the way that could not vnderstand howe we were saued by the mercy of God if Christes merittes did in justice deserue our saluation it is to be noted that both be true if they be duely considered For we are saued by Christes merits in rigour of justice he satisfying of God as far-forth fully as we offended him and yet we be saued freely by the mercy of God too both because he hath of his meere mercy without any desert of ours giuen vs Christ his Sonne to be our Sauiour and also for that he hath out of the same his mercy freely applyed vnto euery one in particuler that is saued the merits of Christ through which he is saued To returne to our purpose and to discouer yet more of the Protestantes disgraces offered to our Sauiours mediation Did Christ suffer his passion for the redemption of all mankinde Cō Hesh pag. 39. Sup. Ioh. pag. 39. In locis fol. 361. 1. Ioh. 2. vers 2. or did he die only for some fewe of the elect let Caluin answere you Christes flesh was not crucified for the vngodly neither was the bloud of Christ shed to clense their sinnes With him agreeth brother Bucer Christ by his death did only redeeme the sinnes of the elect Musculus wil beare a part in that consort Christes death is a satisfaction only for the sinnes of the elect all as contrary to the plaine text of Scripture as can be Christ is a propitiation for our sinnes where he spake in the person of the elect and not for ours only but also for the whole worldes Let vs goe on yet one step further What effect doth the bloud of Christ worke in the small number of these elected bretheren Doth it cleanse their soules from al filth of sinne and powre into them the manifold giftes of the holy Ghost whereby they may afterward resist sinne Pag. 31. and serue God in holynesse of life nothing lesse For in the regenerate as M. PERKINS with all the rest of them doth teach there remaineth originall sinne which infecteth euery worke of man and maketh it a mortall sinne So that inwardly in their soules these elected Protestantes be voide of justice and full of all manner of iniquity marry they haue created in them the rare instrument of a newe deuised faith by which they lay hold on Christes justice and so by reall imputation to vse M. PERKINS wordes of Christes justice to them they on the soddaine become exceeding just therefore Frier Luther had some reason to say that whosoeuer was borne againe of this Euangelicall faith was equall in grace vnto both Peter and Paul Supra 1. Pet. 1. In actis disput Tigur Fox Act. fol. 1335. 1138. and vnto the Virgin MARY Mother of God Nay it seemes that Luther came to short and Zwinglius strooke home when he said that God the Father did no lesse fauour all the faithfull then he did Christ his owne Sonne And out of the confidence of the same liuely-feeling faith proceeded these speaches of our newe Gospellers in England And we haue as much right to heauen as Christ hath we cannot be damned vnlesse Christ be damned neither can Christ be saued vnlesse we be saued Christ belike could not liue in blisse without their holy company What audacious compagnions and saucy Gospellers were these yet their reason seemeth sound in the way of their owne religion for if they were most assured of the benefit of Christs owne justice to be imputed vnto them they could not be lesse assured of their owne saluation then they were of Christes owne To conclude this point consider good reader howe the Protestantes who would be thought to magnifie Christes sufferings exceedingly doe in very deede extreamely debase them For as you haue heard they esteeme very litle of all the rest of his life besides his passion secondly they make his passion without suffering of hell tormentes not sufficient to redeeme vs thirdly that all those sufferings put togither doe not in justice merit the remission of our sinnes but only that of grace and curtesie God doth accept them for such fourthly that when all is done they deserue fauour only for a few of the elect and that not to purge those fewe neither from all their sinnes but only to purchase them an imputation of justice to be apprehended by a strong imagination or rather presumption falsly by them tearmed faith Is not here a huge great mill-post fairely thwited into a poore pudding pricke as they say by them who after so high exaltations of the all-sufficiency of Christes suffering doe in fine conclude that in a very fewe persons it worketh only an imputation or shadowe of justice but it agreeth very well and hangeth handsomely together that by the merits of Christes sufferings in hell which are meere phantasticall these men should haue created in them a phantasticall faith neuer heard of before their dayes to lay-hold vpon a vaine shadowe of an imputatiue and phantasticall justice But to returne vnto Christes mediatorship and merits Is it not moreouer a great disparagement vnto them to maintayne as the Protestantes doe that his best-beloued spouse the Church should continue but a small time at least in any sight and should be penned vp in corners yea and during that time too it should not be free from many foule grosse errours in the very foundation of faith Furthermore that he left his holy word the only rule and square as they hold