great Sacrament and no more question the works of God but conclude with that holy man Thomas de Kempes That if the wonderful works of God were to be understood by our reason they could not be said to be wonderful and unspeakable Thus have I shewed the truth of this Sacrament by the Protestants own Bible which though it work not my desired effects in the belief of it yet I hope it will reduce them to a more charitable opinion of us who think our selves bound to believe it because it is inserted in Holy Scripture according to that of our Saviour Search the Scriptures for therein you shall finde eternal life Chap. 2. Proving Sacramental Confession both by Holy Scripture and Reason against the Opinion of Protestants HAd we the prudence of our Predecessors in submitting our Judgements to Gods Church both as concerning this verity and all others we should not have so much peevish wrangling continually as we have in points of Faith but contrariwise we should joyn hand in hand in one uniform Doctrine of Christian Religion but being far from that happiness in this age we are possest with quite contrary for every one will be his own Judge and pass sentence though it be against Scripture and Reasont too and this will plainly appear when we consider that Confession hath been the practice of all Ages since Christ to this day I shall not need to produce the Authority of every Age which might easily be done it being out of my design because it is so plainly commanded in Holy Writ which ought not by any that professeth himself a Christian to be denied and if not so of necessity to be put in practice The first place I shall prove it from is out of the Gospel of Saint Matthew who speaking of Saint Johns Baptism Mat. 3. v. 5.6 saith They came from Jerusalem and Judea and were Baptized of him confessing their Sins Now to evade this Text the Protestants say That the people confessed themselves in general to be sinners But how poor this shift is let every one judge that hath a minde to know the truth for St. John knew and we all know that every man in general is a sinner without their saying so but the Text saith They confessed their sins which plainly argueth every ones particular sins Again you shall see what another Evangelist saith to the same purpose Mark 1. v. 5. And there went out to him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan confessing their sins It may justly bring an asTonishment on the souls of true Christians to consider that those people which say they will believe nothing but the Bible yet when they come to the touchstone of it will believe never a word more then what their own fancies please But now as I have shown you how this was practised amongst the Jews in our Saviours time so now you shall be shown how Christs Apostle from him doth command the same Saint James saith James 5. v. 16. Confess your sins one to another and in all reason and duty since it is thus commanded we are bound under the penalty of damnation to do all the commands of the New Testament at least to believe them to be lawful Many examples of this practice have we in the Old Testament commanded by God himself as in Numbers he saith Numb 5. v. 6.7 That if any man or woman had committed any sins that then they shall confess their sin and he shall recompence his trespass committed So David used Confession to Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 12. v. 13. and if there were no Scripture at all Reason might tell us that it is a Divine Institution First in regard of the goodness that is in it self for we finde nothing more repugnant to our corrupt natures then to confess our sins to a Priest from which we may gather that the more it is against our frail natures the more it hath conformity to Gods will in regard by sad experience we all finde how difficult it is for us to comply with Gods will in those things that concerns our salvation Secondly The thought of confessing our sins to a Priest oftentimes hinders our design in committing sins Thirdly by confessing our sins to a Priest to whom God hath given our souls in charge Heb. 13. v. 17. and must give an account for them he knows what sins we are infected with and knows the better what Doctrine to preach to us for the remedy of our spiritual distempers And can any reasonable man think that if it were not a Divine Law that so many Emperours and Kings and Princes as are and have been would stoop on their knees to a poor Priest in a gray course Gown to make their Confession No we may well imagine they would not being men that commonly follow the dictates of their own will did not their consciences tell them it was from God and not of mans invention Now by this you may plainly see what reason the Catholick Church hath to propose Confession to her Children and likewise what madness 't is for Protestants and others to impugne so naked a Truth and so good a principle of Faith as Confession is My advice therefore is to all that enjoy not this benefit That they would beseech the giver of all goodness to unite them in communion with his holy Catholick Church and make them obedient Members thereof if they expect salvation from his hands according to that of Saint Augustine That he that will not acknowledge the Church for his Mother cannot lawfully call God his Father and that out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation Chap. 3. Proving Purgatory or a temporal satisfaction to Gods Justice for our sins committed here against the Belief of Protestants DId we not by the irregular passions of our mindes throw down Reason the Queen of our souls and set up an Idol in her place called Opinion we should with much facility imbrace this verity so long practised by Gods Church though it were for no other reason but because it is practised there but since nothing but Scripture will serve the turns of many in the world I shall plainly set it forth by that rule that they may have no excuse to deceive themselves But first it is necessary to let you know that as God hath these two Attributes to wit Mercy and Justice so he is to have them both satisfied As to the first he satisfies himself in pouring down his Spiritual and Temporal Blessings into our Souls and Bodies for the good of both And the second must be satisfied either in our doing or suffering according as our sins deserve Agreeable to this truth is that satisfaction which God hath required in Scripture so often for example Gen. 3. that of our first Parents for so soon as they had abused the mercy of God which placed them there presently his
of the Israelites and of King David who mourned and wept 2 Sam. 1. v. 12. and fasted until evening and of Nehemiah that mourned and fasted certain dayes Nehem. 1. v. 4. and prayed before the God of heaven and in another place the Jews fasted and prayed with earth upon their heads Ch. 9. v. 1. and as it was a practise by all our fore-fathers so it is and ever will be in Gods Church Again we read that all the City of Nineveh at the preaching of Jonas put on sack-cloth Jonah 3. v. 7. and fasted both man and beast now in my opinion these proofs might have been omitted for the proof of this point since reason and Christianity might induce us to practice that which in it self is the occasion of much good both for soul and body It hath been so general a practice in all ages by Gods Church that Saint Augustine said They were guilty of a mortal sin that did not saft the holy time of Lent and certainly there is none that is thus sick of that disease but those that relye wholly upon kitching physick and so take so much care to preserve and feed the body that they totally neglect the medicines and food for the soul And besides what hath been said as to the example of Christ and the good it procures to our souls let us consider what holy intents the Catholick Church hath in the keepign of some particular dayes of fasting and as for the time of Lent she hath ordained the keeping of it forty dayes before the Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour first to imitate to the utmost of our power his holy example Secondly that we should by Fasting and Praying then more then ordinary have a dolorous resentment of his bitter Passion which he suffered for us And thirdly that we might with true prepared hearts celebrate the happy time of the Resurrection of his glorious body and with reverence approach to the holy Sacraments of Gods Church and for our Fasting on Friday every week it is that we may all cease from the pleasures of our taste that day our Saviour tasted Gall and Vinegar and a little to punish our bodies by fasting when our Saviour suffered so many dolorous wounds for us in his tender and delicate Body for the salvation of the world Now if any one can finde any evil in these intents and practices of the Church let them quarrel with them still but if not as I am sure justly they cannot then are they bound in conscience to follow the practice of so holy an Institution I will a little digress from my first purpose by quoting an ancient Father or two for confirmation of this point and so conclude this Chapter as first St. Jerome Elias and Moses saith he by fasting forty dayes were filled with a familiarity with God In c. 58. Isa and our Lord himself fasted as many in the Wilderness to leave unto us the solemn dayes of Fast that is Lent And again saith he We fast forty dayes Ep. 54. ad Marcel or make one Lent in a year according to the Traditions of the Apostles in time convenient And grave St. Ambrose saith plainly That it was not ordained by men but consecrated by God nor invented by any earthly cogitation but commanded by the Heavenly Majesty thus is it plainly proved that this practice is no new invention but what hath been generally practised by all holy men who have been Members of the Roman Catholick Church and so will it continue as long as God hath a Church upon earth which we are sure will be until the consummation of the world Chap. 15. Proving that Scripture is very hard to be understood and that we cannot rightly know the meaning of it but by relying upon the Church of God which is infallible contrary to Protestants Opinion IT would not seem a little strange did we but consider the folly of many men who have such low thoughts of Angels and Saints as that they know nothing and yet are so grosly arrogant of their own knowledge that none of the grand Mysteries of the Bible as they think are unknown to them and that the whole Church of God is less to be trusted in then they and so by this demy Devil self-conceit they wrong themselves and strive to deprive Gods Church of that priviledge which Christ hath given to her alone with commands to us to hear and obey her in all things concerning our Salvation but had these men been acquainted with St. Augustine he would have told them another story who cryes out concerning Scripture O wonderful profoundness of thy words wonderful profoundness my God wonderful profoundness it maketh a man quake to look on it to quake for reverence and to tremble for the love of it and those places saith he which I know not are many more then those that I know by which every considerate man may judge with himself that if this great Doctor and light of Gods Church had this opinion of Scripture and of his weakness in expounding it what little reason every particular man hath to think it easie for him to do that never was so learned and inspired of God as he was as all the Christian world knoweth and that his opinion then is agreeable to the Catholick Church now and that to Gods holy word shall be made most manifest and first from St. Peters own testimony who though he was an Apostle of Christ yet apprehended Saint Pauls Epistles to be very hard in the understanding of them as also in all his Epistles saith he are many things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other Scriptures unto their own destruction And if there be so many places hard to be understood how many may be justly conclude there is in the Revelations where as St. Jerome saith every sentence is a Mystery and how many in the Canticles and in the Prophesies of Daniel and many other places and I would know how any particular man can tell what Christ meant in many Mysteries he spake and how he knows what the Angel meant when he revealed those high Mysteries to St. John and what Solomon meant when he declared these excellent simiditudes of Gods Church and what St. Paul meant when he writ those hard places spoken of if they answer me Gods Spirit tells them the meaning and that they are perswaded 't is so let every one judge how poor this answer is which is common amongst them for cannot every Sectary plead the same a Cobler may alledge that as well as a Doctor and a Tinker as well as a Divine and this presumption of interpreting the Bible by private spirits hath been the cause of all these Sects and Opinions that are now in the world which would rend the seamless Coat of Christ which is his Church in pieces if they could If God had ordered every one to be his own
To the Reader AMongst all the Miseries that attend our Humane Frailty there is none to be so much bewailed as the stupidity of our mindes which renders us worse then beasts and deprives us of that felicity for which we were Created which was to fill up the glorious places of the Lapsed Angels and so have been happy to all eternity the verity of this will plainly appear when we consider the madness of this our present Age where People suck in Errour as Children do Milk from their Mothers Breasts and unadvisedly repel Truth as one would do a Serpent that attempts their ruine they hiss at those that invites them to Happiness and hug the Preachers of their Misery that imbrace all kindes of Novelties and kick against ancient verities that cry out the Bible the Bible and yet believe nothing in it more then their own Fancies dictate to them Now that these people of which there is too many may a little see and know their own Errours I shall in this following Discourse prove that their own Bibles which they pretend to confide in both is and shall be their assured Judge to condemn their erroneous opinions as also their guide being rightly understood to the knowledge of the Truth as also make it appear that all the chief points of Religion which Protestants deny and Roman Catholicks practice is found and commanded in their own Bibles by which will appear with what partial eyes they have looked upon Scripture that read it over so often and cannot see those places which pointeth Gods Church and the Faith thereof so plainly to them for it is indeed with these kinde of people as it is with the Jews to this day who though they read in the Old Testament the Prophecies which plainly foretold Christs coming his Life and dolorous Death yet are so blinded with unbelief that they cannot understand the same so all that are now out of Gods Church read and tumble over the Old and New Testament and yet cannot see the plain places which all Christians are bound to believe under the peril of damnation and all this is because men have presumptuous mindes in trusting to their own understandings and will not relye on Gods Church which plainly shews them to her Members when none else can because she onely is guided in all truth by the Holy Ghost to the end of the world All therefore that I shall desire of every Protestant Reader is onely this that he minde and look closely to every Text of Scripture here quoted and what is said with an impartial eye and observe well how Scripture and reason concur in the truth of what is treated of concerning our Faith which is so much slandered by their teachers and others for though it be lightly made on by some yet they shall one day finde that the diligent search after truth was one of the main things for which we were sent into the world which truth being practised in Gods Church is here plainly proved which though not delicately dressed with crafty Sentences but in poor and simple style may I hope produce the desired effects for which it was intended that is that all deceived people may finde the way to Gods Church that all Ignorance and Errours may be banished and Truth take place that true Religion may flourish as a green Bay-Tree and Heresies and Factions wither as Plants without rain that living all our lives in communion with Gods Church we may at last enjoy that blessed end for which we were created THE Catholick Mirrour Chap. 1. This is to prove the Verity of the Blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Saviour and that it is really so contrary to Protestants Opinion THe Misbelief of these times is such that it may give a just astonishment to all true Christians especially when they consider how little Faith many have in this most Blessed Sacrament and that there is no one thing our Blessed Saviour did so much inculcate to us in his whole life concerning any point of Faith as this he very well knowing the greatness of the Mystery and the smallness of our Faith it is in Holy Scripture often mentioned to be really his Body and Blood because we may plead no excuse by any mistake of one place alone and first you shall see how this Blessed Sacrament was prefigured to us in the Old Testament by the holy men of God and his Prophets as in Exodus 16.15 concerning the Manna which came down from Heaven to the Israelites to feed their Bodies so that foretold of this Spiritual Manna which feeds our Souls for should not this Blessed Sacrament be of greater value then Protestants make of it who say it is barely Bread and a Figure onely of Christ his Body then this Manna which was indeed a Figure would be of greater validity then that which it prefigured which is very absurd to think A second Figure we finde in Scripture is that Holy Bread of Proposition Exod. 25 Lev. 24. v. 5.6 7. or Shew-Bread which because it was a Figure of this most Holy Sacrament was to be made and eaten with such purity that none but sanctified persons was to eat of it to shew with what purity and reverence we ought to approach these Holy Mysteries The third Figure in Holy Writ is the Paschal Lamb Exod. 12. v. 3.4 5 6 c. an eminent Figure of this Sacrament wherein you may observe what Ceremonies God exacted from the Jews in the eating of it although but a Type of this from whence we may gather that this which Christ hath Instituted is to be had in a far higher esteem amongst Christians as requiring greater Faith in the believing of it and reverence in the receiving The fourth Figure was the Ark Exod. 25.10.11 12. whereof the Holy Doctor Saint Thomas saith 1.2 q. 102. ar That even as the Ark was made of the Wood of Sethim that is of pure and shining Cedar even so the Body of our Lord consisteth of most pure Members Again the Ark was gilded both within and without the which gilding signifieth the Wisdom and Charity of Christ our Lord. In the Ark were three things 1. There was a golden Pot wherein was kept Manna and was a figure of the Soul of Christ which containeth all plenitude of Sanctity and Divinity 2. There was the Rod of Aaron which signified the Priestly Power of Christ and as the Ark stood in the Tabernacle covered with a Vail even so Christ lyeth hidden in this Divine Sacrament under the Forms and Accidents of Bread and Wine which we must discover with the eyes of Divine Faith according to Saint Paul That Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen 3. There was in the Arke the two tables of Stone to signifie that Christ should be a Law-giver and this being one of his greatest Laws to believe in him let us take him at his word and thank
him for so great a good as is this pure Sacrament of his Body and Blood I shall now begin to forsake the Shadows and let the Sun-shine of our happiness appear in clearly proving by the Holy Word of God that we now injoy in reality what they did but prefigure to us And first from the words of Christ himself by Saint Matthews Gospel Mat. 26. v. 26.27 28. where he saith in private to his twelve Disciples onely Take eat this is my Body and drink ye all of it for this is my Blood he names here no Figures but in plain tearms This is my Body and had not our Blessed Saviour meant what he here said he would have expounded his words both for the benefit of his Apostles and all us besides who have no better assurance in any thing for our salvation then his word which is truth it self The second Text is from Saint Marks Gospel where he saith Christ took bread and blest it and said Take eat Mark 14. v. 22. 23 24. this is my body which shall be given for you and so of the Cup he said to them This is my Blood of the New Testament which shall be shed for you now I leave it to all reasonable Christians that are not partial to their own Souls to consider whether Christ did onely in Figure give his Body to dye for us and his Blood in Figure to be shed or his real Body and Blood if he gave them really for us to death he saith here that this is that Body and that same Blood in this Sacrament so that to deny this is to give our Blessed Saviour the flat lye and in refusing of Christs words here may as well shake hands and bid adieu to all points oâ— Christian Faith for that Saint James his Apostle saith That he which breakâ— one Commandment is guilty of all meaning in the not believing of one he may as well not believe any Our Saviour to confirm to us what he told us by the two precedent Apostles hath inspired Saint Luke to publish this great mystery Luke 22. v. 19 20. where in the Text you may finde the same words recited as was before by Saint Mark but above all you shall finde the beloved Disciple more ample in declaring the words of his Master John 6. v. 50 51 52 c. where he saith That the bread which I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world now the Jews wanting faith as too many now adayes do said as Hereticks now do How can this man give us his flesh to eat not understanding what manner Christ meant to bestow it on us Our Saviour who came into the world to lead us into all truth would have opened undoubtedly his meaning to them if he had had any other but he was so far from shewing any other meaning of his words that he reiterates them over and over again saying Except you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you and so proceeds in the confirmation of what he said before and which is very remarkable his Disciples which followed him and had frequently heard his Doctrine could not comprehend how this great mystery should be brought to pass so distrusting his Godhead Ver. 60 61. wherein his power lay to accomplish it They went away saith the Text and walked no more with him By which every Christian may easily understand that if our Saviour had not meant what he said concerning this Sacrament he would not have suffered his Disciples which he loved so well to have gone away and left him but would have then as he did at other times when he spake parables expounded the meaning but you see he had no other meaning for he sweetly complains to the others and will ye also go away Ver. 67. but St. Peter answers for them that stayed To whom shall we go Ver. 68. thou hast the words of eternal life so that we may understand that they believing in his words stayed behinde with him and would not leave our Saviour as the rest did therefore it concerns every Christian as they tender their salvation to consider what hath been said by our Blessed Saviour concerning this grand Mystery of Christian Religion and not any more to question Christs meaning for since we know he hath often said it is his Body and Blood and we likewise know that it was in his power to make the Bread and Wine so by his Divine Benediction there remains nothing for us to doubt but to humble our Spirits in submitting to our Blessed Saviours Doctrine and to say as Saint Peter did Lord thou hast the words of eternal life And that you may in this great point of Faith receive further satisfaction I shall reduce to your memory the opinion of Saint Paul who you shall see verifies what hath been said before for faith he The Cup of blessing which we bless 1 Cor. 10. v. 16. is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ and the Bread of blessing which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ he names no Figures here nor fancies of we know not what but of Communion of Christs sacred Body and Blood who came into the world to abolish all Figures and out of his immense goodness to leave us his divine self for the consolation of our souls And for our further assurance Saint Paul in his next Chapter treateth more amply and telleth the manner of the institution 1 Cor. 11. v. 24 25 26 27. as you may read in the places cited in his Epistle where likewise he saith That by frequent partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ we shew forth the Lords death Perhaps some will answer it is meant for a remembrance of his Death and of them I would demand what better memorial can there be of any person then to have the said person present for example when our Saviour appeared to Saint Thomas and shewed him his sacred wounds then he remembred him and cryed Thou art my Lord John 20. v. 27 28. and my God and so it is frequently amongst friends that hath been long absent that are forgot one by another till frequent conversation reduces to their memory the knowledge of each other and do commonly say in such cases O! now I remember you So by frequent Communion with Jesus Christ in the Sacrament we have the best memorial his goodness could leave unto us Again he saith That whosoever eateth and drinketh these mysteries unworthily eateth and drinketh his own damnation not discerning the Lords Body so that by these words it is plain there is a Body to be discerned by the eyes of our Faith and as plain that damnation would not follow by eating bare bread and Wine From these so evident places of holy Scripture I hope every good Christian will be induced to the belief of this
third place wherein the Fathers of the New Testament were which could not obtain Heaven till Christ had shed his Blood for them according to that of Saint Paul speaking of the Faith of those holy men yet he saith Heb. 11. v. 39.40 All these having obtained a good report by faith received not the promise which was Heaven God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect But the common objection and deceit against this which takes so much is that Christ hath satisfied Gods Justice for our sins what need we do any thing at all and this is the usuall juggle of those that teach against this point of satisfaction but we are to consider how far Christs satisfaction extends to us that is he dyed for the pardon of our original sins and not for our actual transgressions though they be the easier pardoned by the merits of his Death too for if all our actual sins were pardoned and satisfied for by the Death of Christ why then all Heathens and Turks and Whoremongers and Murderers and Blasphemers should be saved which Saint Paul saith Shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven so that this is but a trick of our Adversaries making the people believe that they attribute all to Christ when indeed if justly considered they load his shoulders with their actual sins that hath suffered enough already for our original ones and so they would fain free themselves from all kinde of sufferings here and hereafter when our Saviour saith We cannot enter into life eternal without much tribulation but as I said God is merciful to save so he is just to punish and it is not good for us to presume too much upon hhis mercy lest we fall into a provocation of his Justice and so perish everlastingly And since it is so plain both by holy Scripture and Reason that there is a purging place or temporal punishments in the life to come proportionable to every ones sins let every man consider what obligation he hath first to believe it to be so secondly to live so holily in this life that God may be pleased to spare us by extenuating our sufferings in those purifying flames agreeable to that of B. St. Bernard Serm. 6. tribulat in fine Oh would to God some man would now before-hand provide for my head abundance of water and to mine eyes a fountain of tears for so haply the burning fire should take no hold where running tears had cleansed before Chap. 4. Proving that none of the Holy Fathers of the Old Law enjoyed Heaven till Christ came and that there was a distinct place where they waited for their Redemption by his coming REason doth tell us and experience will justifie the same that all the glorious and splendid things of this world are obtained with much difficulty and travel so that scarce the tythepart of men have the fruition of them and is it not to be lamented that we have so poor and beggerly apprehensions of heavenly glory as to think it requires no difficulty no patience nor no suffering to obtain that Kingdom the contrary will plainly appear when I shall prove by Scripture that no soul from Adam till Christ dyed enjoyed heavenly Glory but suffered with long patience and expectation till they were redeemed by the precious Blood of our Saviour and so freed from their long captivity conformable to Saint Paul who writing of our Saviour Christ Ephes 4. v. 8.9 saith When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men And again Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth Now I would from these words have every Protestant consider these two things First to what place Christ descended after his Death and secondly who they were that he led with him captive at his ascension from that place It is clear to all Christians that Christ did not descend to the Hell of the damned to release them from any captivity for as I said before there is no redemption for them what other thing can be concluded but that he went to release them which could not be saved till then for is it not madness to think that any people went to Heaven before Christ had redeemed them with his precious blood next you shall see what St. Peter saith concerning this point 1 Pet. 3. Ver. 18. Ver. 19. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preacht unto the spirits in prison Now what can be desired more plain then this showing so plainly that when Christs flesh lay dead his spirit preacht to those that were long in expecting of him in a prison to them that sighed so long for his coming the same did the Prophet Zachariah foretel where speaking to Sion Behold Zach. 9. ver 9. saith he thy King cometh he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass here he speaks of Christs coming and in the other verse Ver. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water Now what pit can this be imagined to be but this place where these holy men were in which he prophesies that Christ at his coming to Sion would deliver them out and if we consider this point as we ought to do we shall finde it to be an Article of our Creed Article 4. of our Creed which saith He descended into Hell the third day he rose again Now some object by this Hell is meant the grave but how absurdly let every one judge that considers how ridiculous it is to think Christs soul should remain in the Grave his Body we grant did so but his glorious Spirit went to perform what before had been said of him according to his own most blessed words when he said That as Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the belly of the whale so shall the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth so his body as I said was in the Grave and his Soul in the other place which is commonly called Hell because it is believed to be under the earth as the Hell of the damned is Now this place may suffice to any reasonable Christian yet I shall propose one or two things more to your considerations as first concerning Lazarus John 11. v. 42 43. who was dead and buried four dayes and was raised to life by our Saviour I hope none will say he was in Hell with the damned and had he been in Heaven you may be sure his Sisters had a better sense of that Glory then to wish him upon earth again and if he had been
Gods Church that they have not yet left their Cradles that is they are rocked up and down by their new opinions and so far from being settled that it is to be feared they never will for what wise man can be so much an enemy to truth as to think Gods Church was not spread in the world before Henry the Eighths time or Martin Luthers or John Calvins The rise of all Sectaries who were the first bringers in of all Religions but the Roman as every one knows which hath read any thing and for such men who were known to be leud and evil livers to pretend new lights and discoveries from God for the alteration of Christian Religion who seeth not but that it was preposterous as it hath proved for I would demand why did our Blessed Saviour preach Christian Religion and send his Apostles and Disciples to preach the same to all Nations in the world that they might plant true points of Faith and they did do it and watered it with their Blood was this done for nothing that when these pretended Reformers came they must make the world believe that God would undo all again what had been practised so long in all Christendome to have new Religions of their making set up sure these men thought that either God knew not what he did when he planted the first or that all people but themselves were very simple to receive a second Faith from them of their own inventing as plainly appeared soon after and doth still for no sooner were they severally grown to any authority with silly people but they began to rail and revile one against the other just as we see their succeeding followers do to this day which indeed is proper to all Sectaries and Hereticks to do which shewed then and now of what far distance their doctrine was from pleasing God who is the God of peace and hareth contention as also far from being of his Church since there is no such custome as Saint Paul saith and yet we see by wofull experience in this Kingdome how these Sects which are the spawn of Heresie still grow more and more amongst us and in their increasing are still more monstrous then at first in their opinions against God and Christian Religion and yet they say as the first of them did that God hath sent them to convert and purge the world and bring in new Relgions and so all Hereticks that come after this Age will say the like and so it seems by them that God will never settle any but have every Age a new Religion And thus we may see what a tempestuous sea Heresie is which tumbles them up and down that follow it and never are at rest here till they imbarque themselves in the secure Ship of the Catholick Church where God himself is the Pilot from whence those unhappy souls that went out and were the cause of these prodigious storms have suffered shipwrack on the quick-sands of their own giddy fancies Again let us observe further how monstrous these Heresies and Factions are and how destructive both to mens souls and to Monarchy in the Civill Government of our Bodies First we may easily perceive what ruine it hath brought to many souls Their bad practices and proceedings when they are taught to deny all these Principles of Faith proved in this Book by the word of God and other high points by some of them as the Godhead of Christ and the Holy Ghost is denyed by Antebaptists and Quakers and too many others and Baptisme of Infants and amongst them altogether is practised such a furious contempt of Gods word and all the Sacraments and Divine Mysteries of Christian Religion as never was yet known or heard of in the Christian world before so that some people are even distracted and know not where to go for to finde rest for their souls because so many Sects pretend for the truth and are all false because as Saint Paul saith there is but one Faith one God and one Baptisme and the Catholick Church is the onely Haven for all those troubled spirits that seek for truth to finde repose in And how destructive they are to Civill Government I need not quote any Authour to prove it since our King and Kingdome at home as well as others abroad have felt the hellish hands of Heresie and faction in such sort that Rebelling against our deceased lawful Sovereign they did not onely spill his Royal Blood but thousands of his Subjects and this under the appearance of Religion too as well as any but they that see not these to be snares and pits of the Devil deserve to fall into them since none but those that are wilfully blinde can be caught in such visible ginns And now as I have briefly shown you the rough and stormy Seas of Heresie and Factions so I will open the gate to let you see the smooth and pleasantest Waters of Gods Church which runs through every vein of the world peaceably without noise or disturbance agreeable to his Word wo said My peace I leave with you and that you love one another as I have loved you which words of our Saviour is no where observed as I have shown by the malice and contentions that is amongst Hereticks but in the Catholick Church The Churches Antiquity and rise which hath had this peace which Christ left ever since he left it and as it began then in his time and the Apostles to be a famous Church throughout the world so hath it continued in the same splendor and purity to this day as is plainly seen first by her being so conformable in her Doctrine she now teacheth to the true and infallible word of God as I have proved Secondly in her continuance of her lawful Line of Pastours Thirdly in her Apostolical care for the Conversion of Nations that know not God which otherwise might perish Fourthly The Churches practice by her Miracles famed throughout the world as our Saviour said who ever did believe truly in him should have power to cast out Devils Mark 16. v. 17 18. and take up Serpents and drink poison and not hurt them so his Church which hath onely truly believed in him hath onely had many Members that hath truly done those Miracles as many Protestants themselves confess Again if we consider the different order that is in both Churches it may justly amaze all reasonable men the Priests of the Catholick Church never marry nor enjoy any great Estates that so they may be freely divested from the worlds interests as the Apostles were to attend wholly to perform their charge in Gods Church and the conversion of souls on the contrary the Ministers of all other Churches do generally marry and enjoy very great Possessions and Riches by which they are so incumbred with the world as very few are more as we daily see by their continual Suits of Law and griping cares to advance themselves from one