after them said that Christ took not flesh of his mother but of the elements wch at his resurrection he rendred again to the world entring heaven wthout any flesh or body at all IV. The Manichees affirmd his body was phantasticall so also Priscillianus who therfore neither heeded his nativity nor resurrection 5. Valentinus contemporary wth Cerdon that the body of Christ was no true body but heavenly wch passed through his Virgin mother as through a pipe VI. Apollinaris of Laodicea in Syria in the time of Constantius sō of Constantin the Great that Christ in his incarnation converted some part of the divine word into flesh and so took not flesh of the Virgin S. Athanasius Ambrose and Cyrill wrote against this heresy VIII Nestorius Byshop of Cōstantinople in the time of Emp. Theodosius the younger taught that ther wer in Christ not only two naturs but two persons also After him dead and condemnd in the councell of Ephesus Gnapheus Byshop of Antioch renewed his errour and was himself also condemned in the fift Synod of Constantinopl IX On the otherside Eutiches abbot of a certain monastery in Constantinople in the time of Pape Leo the first taught that ther wer in Christ not only one person but one natur also This Eutiches was wthstood by Flavian Byshop of the place who condemnd his opinion wherupon arose a great feud among the Christians of the East som defending others condemning Eutiches and in that tumult a Synod was appointed at Ephesus by Theodosius junior wherein Dioscorus Byshop of Alexandria who was himself infected wth Eutiches his error presided there Eutiches was restored and Flavian condemnd This was the second Ephesin Synod wch all Catholiks abhord being made wthout the presence or apointment of the Pape and consisting onely of men infected with Eutichism But the heresy was afterward judged and condemned in a legall councell at Chalcedon and also an Ephesin councel called the third Synod about the end of their decrees X. Arrius and after him Apollinaris maintained that Christ had onely a body and not a soul against this also is the said Chalcedon and Ephesin councell in 13. cap. of their Decrees as also a Roman councell under Pape Damasus XI Macarius Byshop of Antioch wth his Monothelits affirmed ther were in Christ but one will for wch he was condemnd in the sixt Constantinopolitan Synod under Pape Agatho about the year 698. XII Basilides in the Apostles time and after him Marcus and the Marcites said that Christo was not crucified but Symon Cyreneus who carried his cross S Paul was of another mind we preach Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1. XIII Bassus about the Apostls times taught that salvation was not to be hoped for either in Christs corporall presence or Majesty And a long while after him Petrus Abailardus that the Son of God was not incarnat to the end he might redeem man neither had Satan ever any right in man This heresy as it is against the Nicen crede so also is it opposed by a Crede made in the Constantin councell called the second Synod and by the Ephesin councell called the third Synod ult o. Decretor and by the Chalcedon councell called the fourth Synod XIV Petrus Joannis averd that Christ on the cross was gored wth the Souldiers Lance whilest he was living and not after his death this opinion being contrary to Gospell was dasht in the councell of Vienna under Pope Clement the fift XV. Cerinthus affirmed that Christ was not yet risen from the dead But then saith the Apostle Our faith is in vain 1 Cor. 1. These be the principal heresyes I read of concerning Christ our Lord contrary to the churches doctrin wch teacheth that Christ our Lord was perfect God and perfect man being one person in two naturs the one divine by eternall generation received from the Father of light and being the other human from the Virgin Mary consisting of a true body and perfect soul unto wch two naturs he had answerably two wills divine human the human natur hypostatically united to God was nailed to the crosse for our reconciliation and after he had rendred up his spirit gored wth a lance wch natur after our Lords resurrection ascended up into heavenly glory Concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary ever most highly reverenced under God by all Christians upon earth till Luther opend to this wicked world a door of blasphemy I find few or no ancient heresys at all Good S. Denis the Areopagit having the happiness to see her while she was yet living is said to have been so astonied at the unusuall Majesty of that sacred persō that he is reported to hav said that if Catholike faith had not taught him otherwise he should wthout any demur have adored her as a diety I hav read also of som amongst the ancient Christians that were blamed by the Catholik Prelats for some excess of devotion towards that sacred Virgin as if they had held her a diety by supreme adoration and incense but I have forgot their names I suppose being better advised by their Byshops they soon conformed themselves to that reverence was due to so blessed an instrument of our welfar and so the errour was redrest But who should dare to disable or diminish either in word or deed that divine Virgin I never read of any who bore the name of Christian according to her own prophesy in Gospell Lo from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed untill Helvidius contemporary wth S. Jerom was bold to say that after the birth of Christ she accompanied S. Joseph wch all Christians ears abhord the whole church ever reverencing her as perpetuall Virgin both before and in after child-birth for wch virginity solitud our Lord upon the cross committed her to the care of S. John the Evangelist saying to him Ecce mater tua The body of our Lord being indeed of so venerable a sanctity that he would not that any should so much as ly in his sepulcher much less in the tēple of his nativity I do not find that either Luther or Calvin vented any blasphemy against this Venerable Creatur but followers of heresy do som of them out go their leaders Som Manichees held that S. John Baptist that glorious morning star was damnd for not beleeving in Christ as Bernard de Luxenburg recounts in his Catalogue of Hereticks Yet Christ himself testified that there was not amongst men a greater than hee Concerning saints in generall their worship and power I. That the saints in heaven are not to be honoured or prayed unto was the heresy of Eustachius condemned in the councell of Gangres c. 20. decret and after him Vigilantius Wicleph and Luther This heresy is also judged in the councel at Orleans c. 23. decret II. The Lollards in England following Wicleph and before him Vigilantius who was a French Priest and before him Eunomius taught that the Reliques of Saints were not to be kept or reverenced S. Jerome rose up
and Son Abaylardus again that power was not appropriated but proper to the Father wisedom to the Son and bounty to the Holy Spirit The Manichees contended that the devill is evill by his owne natur and not made so by his fall Origen that the devills should at length be deliverd from hell Hermannus Risswick in the year 1512. held wth much stiffnesse that neither the good Angels nor bad were created of God The church of God resisted all these could she do otherwise Others denied the creation of the soul imediatly by God Seleucus affirming that it is made by Angels of spirit and fire Tertullian that the soul of the Son is made by the soul of his Father as his body by his body The Gnosticks on the other side said it was made of the substance of God himself wch was afterwards defended by the Manichees the wild ofspring of Manes a Persian who affirmd himself to be both Christ the Paraclet too sent out his twelv Disciples about the world to spread abroad his haeretical dogmes who were much multiplied in the time of pape Foelix Tertullian thought that the souls of wicked men were after death turned into devills wch surely is an errour if he speak of a physical and not of a morall turning The Arabians on the other side affirmed that all souls quite perish wth their body wch atheism was also defended by the above named Rissnick the Hollander The Albigenses in the time of Pope Jnnocent 3. averd according to Pythagoras his doctrin that souls pas from one body to another Origen that they were created before the body and imprisond therin for some offence committed wch opinion is assuredly against the common judgment of Catholiks The Gnostiks that all bruit beasts were maisters of understanding and reason The church if she had desired to have done it would have found somthing to do to comply wth all these men Seleucus and Hermias would have the matter wherof the world was made to be coeternall wth God and not created Foelix a Manichean affirmd the same of the Earth Others of Water The Albanenses said that the world should never end Simon Magus as also the Gnosticks Manichees said that the world was made of the ill God and not by the good one and that corporall creatures and mans body were therfore evill in themselves and in their own substance Florinus in the time of Pope Eleutherius taught that God whom he acknowledgd to be both one good did notwthstāding evill things wth a positiv purpos of il as to harden mens hearts deceiv them Coluthius an Egiptian on the other side denied God to inflict so much as the evill of punishment Tatianus in the time of Pope Julius the first affirmed that Adam and Eve were for their sin perpetually damned And yet notwthstanding wisdom is said to have brought him who was first formed and father of the world out of his sin Sap. 10. Origen that Adam lost by sin the image of God wch was an errour surely if he spake properly of his image that is founded in natur and not of similitud founded in grace and blessednes Pelagius in the time of Honorius and Theodosius the younger avouched that Adam died not through demerit of his fault but condition of natur and so had died although he had not find The Armenians inhabitants of Asia betwixt Taurus and Caucasus after their separation from the Catholik church wch happend as I remember upon the councell of Chalcedon wherein Eutiches Abbot and Dioscorus Byshop of Constantinople were condemnd whos conciliary acts the Armenians would not receiv but made themselvs a primat of their own they fell into many errours amongst wch one was that Adam and Eve if they had not sind had never ingendred children and therfore they held marriage to be unlawful Philaster mentions others who maintained that Adam and Eve before they had sinned were blind Thes be blind guids for the church of Christ to follow How many wayes should she turn to trace all these mens steps In a a word not to insist longer upon the old Testament S. Austin and S. Epiphanius in their Books of Heresys mention som who taught that Melchisedeck was not a pure man but som diuine vertu or Christ himself T is easy to say any thing of every thing VIC O the father what a number of pretty opinions be here Truly I find in my heart to hold som of them They were most witty interpreters of Scriptur Pray go on sweet Sr Harry this is the best discours you ever made yet go on it delights me exceedingly according as it is written Thy lips drop as the honey comb Cant. 4. The more you speak the more my appetit encreases MIN. Pray Sr let us break this discours wch I was not aware of and com to matter I have furnisht my self wthall for your conversion This talk corrupts my wife VIC Earth to earth and ashes to ashes Pray be content let me be corrupted thē Thou fool that wch thou sowest is not quickend except it dye Look in the 15. c. of the Corinthians and expound me that place And then tell me first if in right Logick corruption go not before generation tell me secondly who is that same Thou fool LA. I could willingly have Sr Harry to go on in this his speech for it is not altogether unprofitable to hear it and I conceiv not dangerous to us For nothing I hope can hurt such as be well confirmd in their religion VIC No forsooth for it is written of protestants Independents If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them Mar. 16. KN. The errours and wild opinions that have rose in Christianity about the particulars of the new Testament have been so many and various in severall ages of the church that it is hard to bring them into method Our Doctours set them down in every age as they rose naming wth them the Catholik divines who wrote against them the councels that condemnd them the time they lasted and the mischiefs they did in the world I shall endeavour as wel as I may to reduce them all according to my forementiond method unto three sorts errours namely against persons places and actions of Christian faith Persons as Christ our Lord the blessed Virgin Mary S. John the Saints Pope Councells c. As concerning Christ our Lord I. Ebion about the time of Pape Cletus maintained that Christ our Lord was but pure man against whom S. John intreated by the Byshops and Priests of Asia wrote his Gospell Wth Ebion joind Cerinthus and Carpocrates and after them Theodotus of Bizantium who being under persecution denied Christ also Paulus Samosatenus in Syria under Pape Victor wth his disciple Photinus II. Others on the other side denyd him to hav any human natur at all as Cerdon in the time Pape Higin and the Proclianites people of Galatia who taught that Christ came not in flesh III. Apelles
scandalous sinners and obstinate Hereticks calling them the censurs of Antichrist not heeding that S. Paul himselfe practised it I thought good saith he to deliver him up to Satan that his Spirit might be safe 1. Cor. 5. IX Finally all Christian buriall in holy ground the said Waldenses contemned as impertinent and vain These be the extravagant opinions concerning Temples As for Purgatory I. Some Greeks and Armenians avoucht ther is no such place wherin soules after their separation are purgd from dregs contracted in the body But the councell of Florence under pope Eugenius the fourth confirmd the contrary Catholik doctrin II. Luther afterward allthough he held Purgatory yet he had three errours concerning it first he taught that souls there might themselvs either merit or demerit again that a soul there was not certain of his salvation thirdly that a soul ther doth sin so long as it abhors those pains and seeketh rest The same autority from whence he had the beleef of purgatory might if he had listed have conserved him from these misbeleefs concerning it III. That almsdeeds prayers pennances and Sacrifices made by the living for the dead and souls in purgatory do nothing at all avail for their releasment was the heresy and errour first of Aerius then of the Armenians then of the Albigenses then of the Waldenses and lastly of Luther But it is confuted by S. Austin S. Gregory Theophylact and S. Chrysostome And four councells have defined against it Carthaginense quartum c. 95. Valense c. 4. decr Toletanum c. 22. and Florentinum for the union of the Greeks under pope Eugenius the fourth As for Hell I. Almaricus stifly denied it affirming there was no other hell but onely a mans owne conscience guilty of sin The Albanenses said that the punishments of hell were no other than what we suffer in this world Hermannus Risswick wthout any exposition denied any such thing as hell at all II. Origen taught that the pains of hell were not to be eternall Both these fansies are against Gospell and rejected by the councell of Lateran under pope Innocent the third Heaven the place of eternall bliss I make no doubt but that many men born Christians if they fell into heresys came at length to that Atheism as to deny it sith I meet wth so many here in England who deride it as a fiction But I have not read of any in authentick authours who did so though concerning the resurrection unto that bliss and finall beatitud many are said to have held erroneously As for Resurrection ther have been at times five erroneous opinions 1. The sadducees amongst the Jewes and among the Christians first Simon Magus then Valentin Apelles Marcus and Cerdon denied all resurrection of the flesh Against these writes S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. II. Eutichius Byshop of Constantinople taught that the body after its resurrection should be invisible and unpalpable S. Gregory not then Pope sent thither embassadour from the Apostolick sea confuted him openly before Tiberius Constantin then emperour so that Tiberius caused Eutichius his book to be burnt III. Origen said that our bodies after resurrection should be still mortall and after many ages fall to dust never to rise more Expresly against Scriptur wher t is said that mortall shall put on imortality 1 Cor. 15. VI. The Armenians defended that all should rise again in mans sex But if this had been true doctrin thē our Lord by saying so had easlier answered the Sadduces argument than by saying as he did that none should marry but they shall all be as the Angels of God Math. 22. Lastly the same Armenians affirmd that our Lord rose not upon sunday but on the Saturday before Me thinks it should be a hard task for them to show how he rose the third day sith he died on Fryday As for Beatitude 1. the Armenians and after them Petrus Abailardus a French man in the time of Pape Innocent the second then Arnaldus Brixiensis from whence perhaps came those hereticks Arnaldistae excomunicated yearly at Rome in caena Domini and lastly Almaricus affirmed that the blessed in heaven do not see Gods essence but behold him in his creatures S. Paul is contrary to these Now we see by a mirrour in an enigm then we shal see face to face 1 Cor. 13. II. Cerinthus would have heavenly beatitude to consist in the delights of the flesh and that Christs kingdom after the resurrection should be earthly wch errour he drew from some carnall Jews being himself contemporary wth S. John the Apostle But t is gainsayed by S. Paul The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but justice and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14. Papias Byshop of Hierapolis did indeed teach that Christ after the general resurrection should raign upon earth wth his faithfull retinue who had been sufferers here a thousand years drawn to that opinion by such a speech in Apocalips c. 20. and after him Irneus Apollinaris Lactantius Victorius Pictavensis But they held not the same as Cerinthus nor were pertinacious in their opinion against the church wch I think expounds that place of the blesseds reign wth Christ according to the soul from the howr of death to the generall judgment for there t is added Haec est resurrectio prima this is the first resurrection namely of the soul after the bodies death III. Origen taught that neither misery nor beatitude should be eternall for he conceived certain alternations or vicissitudes of both so that the blessed souls after som years should return to mortal bodys and thence be called again to beatitude in a kind of circle But all Scripture is against this fansy Between us and you is a great Chaos so that such as would pass from hence to you cannot c. Luk. 16. IV. That most perfect finall beatitude is to be had in this life was one of the errours of the Bogards and Beguins religious men and women in Germany censured as I remember in the councell of Vienna under Pape Clement the fift The Bogards suffred for their obstinacy whereat the women afrighted submitted themselvs and remain to this day living honestly in a society wthout emission of any vow so that when they pleas they may go forth and marry V. The same partys said that an intellectuall natur is blessed naturally in it self It had been well they had remembred that the grace of God is life eternall Rom. 6. VI. The Armenians taught that no soul is beatified before doomsday as also some Greeks adding that sinners are not punisht till that day This is the opinion Pope John the 22. propounded to the University of Paris But it was gainsayed by the councel of Florence under Pope Eugenius the fourth as contrary to the churches beleef and the Scripture it self does in a manner expresly refute it We know if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved we have a hous not made by hands eternall in the heavens 2 Cor.
The Reclaimed PAPIST OR The Process of a Papist Knight reformd by a Protestant Lady wth the assistance of a Presbyterian Minister and his wife an Independent And the whole Conference wherby that notable reformation was effected 1655. The PROLOG To my Noble and ever honoured Friend JOHN COMPTON Esquire FInding my self unable to master the trouble and alteration wherwith I was surprisd upon the loss of two Friends about Christmas last whom I had reason to esteem and severall other afflictions that came upon me all at once I took the advice after a few days disquiet to divert my thoughts by som unusuall emploiment which might turn the stream not choak up the source giving work enough to entertain my mind not tire it being both substantiall and yet an easy exercise Walking therfor all alone in your garden I fell into remembrance of this present subject wch liked me well becaus my head was full of the story and passages therof that it would prove easy to me on that account to write it and yet being unaccustomed to make books this being the first I should be sufficiently taken up therby if not in the inventing of matter yet at least in the ordering of words to the exclusion of unprofitable passion wch would otherwise creep in and to much annoy my mind The conceit has proovd right For at two months end wherin my mind as busy as any Bee was wholly taken up in inventing contriving writing and reviewing these Dialogs by that time I had fully finished them I perceivd my passion wholly allayd and my spirit in its wonted temper And now I see clearly and do publikly proclaim that every passion is in the comand of reason and that industry both prevents sin and subdues sorrow The whole work consists of three parts wherin nine arguments ar handled in each part three T is disputed I. Whether innovation of Christian doctrin may be made by man or hath ever been made by the Papist II. Whether it be prudence to cast away our explicit articles of beleef and betake our selvs to the Bible for our faith and whether hearing and preaching of the Word of God be the capitall and essentiall work of Christian religion III. Whether the church may for the quiet of some person or nation comply wth opinions she would otherwis dislike of and wt opinions have happed at times contrary to popery IV. Whether it be sufficient to salvation onely to beleev in Christ as the unum necessarium V. Whether the articles propounded in the oath of abjuration as the popes supremacy real presence purgatory worship of saints and merit of good works be plausible doctrin VI. Whether the said oath may be honestly taken by any man upon earth Christian Iew or pagan whether in al every controversy of religion there may be given one generall rule against wch no sectary can except that shall notwthstanding conclude infallibly for the Catholik wthout turning a leaf of Scriptur councells or fathers and wt may be the grounds can retard a papist from reformation VII Whether the Apostls and Evangelists wer all papists that is to say such Catholiks as be at this day VIII Whether any one text of Scriptur may justly be brought out of the old or new Testament against the Catholik church or any one article of her faith and whether reason may possibly frame an argument to convince a papist or remove him from the rock wheron he is seated IX Whether each particular opinion or positiv article of popery rejected by the reformation will not seem to right reason indifferently stated if it allow of any religion at all more rationall and pious than the contrary negativ These be the principal things disputed in my nine conferences wch be so ordered that they have not dependence or connexion one wth another but each several Dialogue is a book by it self Some doctours have thought that the sacred Dialogues called the book of Job are Historically true for the ground and subject of the Discours as that ther was such a person as Iob brought into such a dejected condition set upon and checkt by three neighbour Disputants there named and the like But the words and tenour of their speech this they think was ordered by the sacred Penman according the property of the persons proportionable to his own drift and purpos not so much heeding to set down word for word what they did say as what they might say The same is to be thought of these Dialogs for the ground and occasion of them is reall History A papist Knight offering love to a Protestant Lady could not have audience but under condition of changing his religion For that purpos she brought him a Divine accompanied wth his wife a witty woman to confer wth him and by their help reclaimd him But my Vicares was you may think more pregnant in her gnomeys texts and doxes than I have suffered her to be in this literall accoast wherin she stands like a saltsellar at a banquet only for a grain or two of seasoning for I was loth to have my book overswoln wth her witty vanity I was somwhile in doubt whether I should let her com in at all or no but becaus in the last Dialog she alone wth the Lady in the Ministers absence reclaimd the Knight I had too much prevaricated from the truth of my story wrongd her honour if I had quite left her out Besides sith the Minister his wife wer commilitores in this imployment I could not well separat whom not onely the common wealth but even their common warfar had united Quos comune homine genus telluris Origo Deinde thorus junxit tandem ipsa periculajungunt That all the world may see and acknowledg how necessary it is for parsons to marry to the end they may have a fellow labourer in the harvest and when the good man is sick his wife may be ready at hand to supply the place You will surely love my Vicares when you meet wth her for she is in a right description a featous body and soul linkt together wth words for the good of somthing The work being ended so much as I mean to put forth at this time comes running voluntary and of its own natur as you see Sr unto your friendly hands wher it doubts not but to find a favourable entertainment both by the candour of your own natur and your particular good will to the Authour severall wayes exprest If it be so happy as to give you content I shall applaud the evill that occasiond me so much good as indeed all crosses of this life if they be well managed do operat unto further good and benefit than would have happed wthout them It will be to me a double comfort by these few exercitations both to have overcom my own trouble and also to entertain a friend I do so highly respect Your many civilitys and much kindnes towards me clayms a
observation wch I noted at times in my own privat reading never before taken notice of by any LA. So much the better for new things do excite attention VIC First you know that the Papish church sends forth her Priests and Religious to reduce nations from paganism and conveigh their faith up and down the World contrary to expres Scriptur Hast thou faith have it to thy self Rom. 14.21 II. Christ sayeth When thou dost fast anoint thy head wash thy face Math. 6.17 Papists never observe this nor do they think themselves bound in Lent ember other fasting days to put painting or black patches on otheir face to curl and powder their hayr anoint their head with jessamy butter spiknard other sweet ointments but the Gospell is neglected by them wthout any fear or conscience at all III. They hold that no body should forsake their religion directly contrary to Gods will The Spirit saith expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith 1. Tim. 4.1 God sayes some shal they say they shall not and by their good will they would let no body do it IV. They hold that the virgin Mary was taken up soul and body into heaven and would perswade us we shall be so too yet truth says that flesh and blood cannot in herit the Kingdom of heaven 1. Co. 15. V. They will tell you punctually on what day of the month Easter Christmas or any holiday happens Of such t is written Ye observ days and months and times and years I am afraid of you least I have bestowed labour in vain Gal. 4.10 VI. Such of them as be strong and healthy fast in Lent if any be sickly he eats flesh contrary to wt is writtē He that is weak let him eat herbs Ro. 14.2 VII T is written If thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink Rom. 12.20 here the Papists commit two errours first they hold that a man may give both meat and drink to one that is hungry secondly they will do this not onely to their enemyes but neighbours and friends VIII They bring the Virgin Marys Pictur into the church wth a child in her arms tho they cannot but know that she stiles herself the handmayd of the Lord and t is written Cast out the Bondwoman her son Gal. 4.30 IX Papists will have the church forsooth to teach us our Religion and faith But it is written Wo unto him that saith unto the wood Awake and to the dumb stone Arise it shall teach Hab. 2.19 Is the church any thing but wood and stone T is flat idolatry thus to worship wood and stone and the works of mens hands Wo unto them for it X. They teach that righteousnes pleases God sin displeases wher as indeed they are both equally reprovable When the comforter is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousnes Io. 16.8 XI You know Madam we sit in our pews all service and Sermon time wthout uttering word nor can any discern our lips to stir all the while but the Papist women as soon as they enter their churches down they fal on their knees so long as they remain there patter forth prayers you may see hundreds of their lips moving together somtimes you may hear them cry Jesu Jesu I dare swear they speak in the church their religion teaches them to do it contrary to what is written It is a shame for women to speak in the church Cor. 14.34 XII They hold that both prodigality covetousnes in respect of our own goods fornicatiō leache ry in regard of our own bodys is unlawfull contrary to expres Scriptur Is it not lawful for me to do what I will wth mine own Mat. 20.15 XII They hold that they abstain from all kind of flesh in Lēt yet they eat fish c. not understāding the Scriptur Ther is one kind of flesh of men another of beasts another of fishes another of birds Co. 15.39 VIC XIII LA. Nay thirteenthly fourteenthly be words too long we have not time to proceed sweet mistres you hear I am cald VIC Many are called but few ar chosen saith the Scriptur Give me leav but to say over my nine and thirty articles LA. They will serv for good discours at table how come they to be so many VIC Articles against popery can never be more or les than nine and thirty K. James could have made his up to forty if he had pleasd but they must be no more than nine and thirty nor yet no les according as t is written Of the Iewes receivd I forty stripes save one 2. Cor. 11.24 LA. You are so witty VIC A parsons wise must needs be witty as t is written He that walks wth a wise man shall be wise Prov. 13.20 It should be she that walks but the Scriptur is compendious and somtimes leavs out a letter nay somtimes a whol syllable as in that saying God made man upright Eccl. 7.29 Ther man is set for woman for t is wel enough known that Adam had a stitch in his side and so went up and down stooping LA. Let us carry in your nine and thirty articles to the table VIC For S. Harry now and then to bite upon according as t is written man livs not by bread alone LA. Enough enough VIC So indeed it is written Luc. 22.38 Satis est It is enough FINIS
may seem by human arguments yet must he himself as well as other Christians lay it aside if it be confronted by Catholik tradition the great and unresistable Rule of Christianity resign himself And it seems a principle of faith had delivered unto Christians this beleef that a soul once expiated goes to heaven Pope John tho he had reason to suspect so much so that he might hav abstained from propounding his thesis yet he did not propound it in councels where faith is determined but in Schools wher opinions are disputed and distinguisht from faith and upon that account was he justly to be excused Yet was that good Prelat so tender conscienced that he is said to have askt the world forgivenes at his death if they took any offence therat adding wthal that he did it only to give them occasion to search more narrowly whether the opinion were not consonant to tradition although it had not been yet heeded If then neither Pape nor councell can go contrary to the received waies of the Church in any thing how shall I be able to do it except I make shipwrack of my faith as S. Paul affirms Hymeneus to have don even by one fals opinion though otherwis a Christian 1 Tim. 1.19 For a lesser leak will drown a ship if it be not stopt or pumpt out so will any one errour in faith sink a self opiniating spirit For in the least we shall as truly resist God the first revealing verity as in the greatest and to gainsay him in any little thing who is equally infallible in all is no les than blasphemy and an insolence intolerable Sith it stands not wth his diety to be mistaken in the smallest matter or mislead his church therin LA. The church me thinks for the quiet and safty of a kingdom might well condescend to som opinions that be not so much materiall put case they were fals for in evills the les is to be chosen and that opinion cannot be so bad as the ruin of a whol Kingdom KN. The Church being a just depositary cannot teach otherways than she has receivd in any affair Besides Christ will hav his spous to be wthout spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5.27 and that opinion being against her tradition it cannot but make a wrinkle or spot or some such thing at least in her T is sacriledg wth us to rob or steal any thing out of a materiall temple what then would it be to purloin the Churches doctrin To rent her own seamles garment or make the least hole in it were an action unbeseeming the wisdom and modesty of the heavenly spous Shee will never do it nor no member of her body such as by Gods grace I am can do it without death and ruin to it self Try that will whosoever entertains but one particular misbeleef he shall soon find that being therby separated from the Catholik body he or his successours will soon attempt another and never lin till all be layd wast Besides the Church being but a depositaty or keeper of the doctrin committed to her charg hath not power over it to exhang distrain or make it away at her pleasur against the rules of honesty And if she should to content one sort of innovatours chang or relent in one thing others that would innovat in another may justly challeng the same favour and what should she then have had remaining to her self after so many innovations made by hereticks in so many ages I think very little or nothing at all by this time T is worth your consideration to ponder this For so you may perceiv both the integrity of this immaculat spous in conserving the doctrin wherwith she has been intrusted intire and wholly sincere and the madnes of all sectarys who would each in their wild fansys have the churches compliance wth them to her own ruin and being denied flew out into all exorbitances against her and forfeyted at once by their self opinions and obstinacy both the title of Catholik they had till then enjoyed and the security they had in the churches bosom This is a worthy and profitable speculation And therfor I shall indeavour to speak therof wth as much order method as can well be used in a matter of such disorder as the confused heap of heresys jumbled together may admit THe Churches doctrine is partly about the creation and Scriptures of the old Testament partly about our redemption and things peculiar to Christianity their persons or places precepts or counsells vices or vertues Sacraments and works either morall naturall or politicall in all wch severall hereticks have at times sought to bring in innovations wch had the church complied wthall she had had little or nothing left her by this time Nay she should have contradicted her self continually and said and denied the same things The extravagancys concerning the creation either opposed the autority of canonicall books or judgd amiss of the divine natur angels and souls the beginning of the world the condition of Adam and Eve our first parents Melchisedek and the like things wch wer antecedēt to our redēption Carpocrates and Cerdon in the time of pope Hygin rejected all the old Testament Ebion on the other side made the old Testamēt to be of equal autority wth the new and out of the new he cast forth al S Pauls Epistles as erroneous Cerdon and Marcion disallowed all the Gospells besides S. Luke Cerinthus all but S. Mathew the Alogians received all but S. Iohn Luther cast away S. Iames Epistle and the books of Maccabees tho he knew that not onely S. Austin but the whole councell of Carthage had received them as canonical Severus the Acts of the Apostles Apelles taught that the Prophets spake contradictories and lies Montanus that they understood not what they said though they are called seers for their understandig Isa 1. and are said to speak as inspired by the holy Ghost 2. Pet. 1. With which of these should the church comply and how The Gnosticks would have two Gods one from whence issue good things the other author of evill The Anthropomorphits in the time of pope Damasus would have God to be truly corporeall as man is The Armenians becaus God had said that Cain should not be slain by any man would needs have him a lier becaus Cain slew himselfe Sabellius in the time of pope Sixtus 2. would not admit any more then one person in God Arrius in pope Sylvesters time opposed the equality of the three divine persons The Alogians acknowledged not the Son of God to be the word The Ignoites maintained that Christ was ignorant of som things in particular of the day of judgment Macedonius in the time of pope Liberius made the Holy Ghost inferiour to the Father and Son not of the same essence wth them but a creatur Petrus Abaylardus said that the Holy Ghost was the soul of the world The Greeks that he proceeded not from the Father