a different interpretation. As, for example, he saith, they have for the supremacy of St. Peter these express words (Matt. xvi.) unto Peter, "Thou art a rock, and upon this rock will I build my church :" but that we have not the contrary in plain Scripture. And the like he urgeth in many other controversies, whose words together with so many examples, for that they moved me much, I shall set them down as they lie in the said book. trial that Catholics do offer. words. 8. "Now," saith he, " for our parts, we offer unto them all the best, surest, and easiest The variety of means that possibly can be devised, or that ever were used in God's church for trial of truth or discovering of heresy." For, as for the books of Scripture, seeing we must receive them upon Books of the credit and authority of the ancient church, Scripture. we are content to accept for canonical, and allow those, and none other, which antiquity in Christendom hath agreed upon. Next, for the contents of Scripture; if our adversaries will stand upon express and plain express words hereof, we are content to agree thereunto, and we must needs be far superiors therein. For what one express plain text have they in any one point or article against us, which we do not acknowledge literally as they do, and as the words do lie? But we have against them infinite, which they cannot admit without glosses and fond interpretations of their own. For example's sake, we have it expressly said to Peter (that signifieth a rock), Upon this rock will I build my church, Matt. xvi. They have nowhere the contrary in plain Scripture. We have expressly (touching the apostles' inequality), He that is great among you, let him be made as the younger, Luke xxii. They have nowhere, There is none greater than other among you. We have expressly, This is my body, Matt. xxvi. You have nowhere, This is the sign of my body. We have expressly, The bread that I will give you is my flesh, John vi. They have nowhere, It is but the sign of my flesh. We have expressly, A man is justified by works, and not by faith only, Supremacy. Real presence. Justification. We James ii. They have nowhere, A man is justified by faith alone; no, nor that he is justified by faith without works, talking of works that follow faith, whereof only our controversy is. We have expressly, Whose Absolution. sins you forgive, are forgiven; whose sins you retain, they are retained, John xx. They have nowhere, that priests cannot forgive or retain sins in earth. have expressly, The doers of the law shall be justified, Rom. ii. They have nowhere, that the law required at Christians' hands is impossible, or that the doing thereof justifieth not Christians. We have expressly, Vow ye, and render your vows, Ps. lxxv. They have nowhere, Vow ye not; or if ye have vowed, break your vows. We have expressly, Keep the traditions which you have learned either by word or epistle, 1 Thess. ii. They have nowhere, The Apostles left no traditions to the church unwritten. Vows. Traditions. Command- 9. We have expressly, If thou wilt enter into ments. life, keep the commandments; and (when he said he did that already) If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor, and follow me. They have nowhere, that either the commandments cannot be kept, or we are not bound unto them, or that there is no degree of life one perfecter than another. We have expressly, Work your own salvation with fear and tremWorks. bling, Phil. ii. They have nowhere, either that a man can work nothing towards his own salvation, being holpen with the grace of God; or that a man should make it of his belief, that he shall be saved without all doubt or fear. We have expressly, Do ye the Penance. worthy fruits of penance, Luke iii. They have nowhere, that faith only is sufficient, without all satisfaction, and all other works of penance on our parts. We have expressly, That every man shall be saved according to his works, Apoc. xx. They have nowhere, that men shall be judged only according to their faith. We have expressly, That there remaineth a retribution, stipend, and pay to every good work in heaven, Mark ix., 1 Cor. iii., Apoc. xxii., Ps. cxviii. They have nowhere, that good works done in Christ do merit nothing. We have ex pressly, That it is a holy cogitation to pray for Brayer for the the dead, 2 Macc. xii. They have nowhere, dead. Sacrifice for the dead. Voluntary corporal afflic tions. We have Alms. it is superstition or unlawful to do the same. We have an express example of a holy man, that offered sacrifice for the dead, 2 Macc. xii. They have no example of any good man that ever reprehended it. We have expressly, that the affliction which Daniel used upon his body, was acceptable in the sight of God, Dan. x. They have nowhere, that such voluntary corporal afflictions are in vain. expressly, that an angel did present Tobias's good works and almsdeeds before God, Tob. xii. They have nowhere, that angels cannot, or do not the same. We read expressly, that Jeremiah the prophet, prayer of after he was dead, prayed for the people of Saints. Israel. 2 Macc. xv. They have nowhere the contrary to this in express Scripture. I leave many things more that I might repeat, but this is enough for example's sake to prove, that albeit our adversaries do vaunt of Scripture, yet, when it cometh to express words, they have no text against us, in lieu of so many as I have here repeated against them; nor can they shew that we are driven to deny any one book of the Bible, nor to glose upon the plain words of any one plain place of Scripture, as they are enforced to do. And this, saith he, of the first way by only Scriptures. other ways of trying spirits besides express Scripture. 10. But now to this, he adjoineth the other aforesaid helps for discerning between a Catholic and heretical spirit in the ways and manners of their proofs; as, namely, what was the sense and judgment of the ancient fathers, doctors, and councils, from time to time, upon those places, who condemned all sorts of heretics, as they rose up in their days; the universality, antiquity, and consent of the universal Christian church, descending from time to time by succession of bishops, especially those of the Roman Church; by which St. Irenæus, St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, Optatus, and others, did convince heretics to be heretics in their days. He addeth also one rule, with a certain challenge annexed, that greatly troubled me, that is, that whereas there hath been so many hundred heresies for the space of a thousand and six hundred years in the Christian church condemned and anathematized by her and her bishops, if it could be shewn that the Papists do agree or participate with any one point truly and sincerely, with two conditions, that is to say, that the thing was judged for an heresy in old time, and that the Papists do now hold it in that sense and meaning wherein it was condemned, that then he will yield that their religion is false, and their church no true church. Old heresies con 11. But, on the other side, he offered to shew invincibly that the Protestants do hold divers old and held by Pro- evident heresies with the said two conditions, testants. to wit, such as were condemned openly for heresies by the ancient Catholic Church, and in the selfsame sense and meaning wherein they were demned, as is evident (saith he) in the heresies of Aerius against Fasting days commanded by the church, and prayer for the dead: as also of the heretic Vigilantius, that denied saints to be prayed unto and their relics to be honoured:* of the heretic Jovinian, that compared matrimony with virginity, and other like, for which he allegeth the testimonies of St. Epiphanius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine: and the matter is so clear, that Dr. Fulke's words are brought in against Bristowe's Motives, saying, that Epiphanius and Augustine were deceived in recording those for heresies which are not; and that Jerome rather raileth than reasoneth; and that Vigilantius was a good man, and his opinion sound.+ 12. So then, this matter troubled me greatly; for I considered with myself, that he that holdeth any one heresy cannot be saved, which is not only conform to Scripture, that an heretical man is most certainly damned, but also confessed by both parts, that only a true Catholic man can be saved, and that he which holdeth any one heresy cannot be truly Catholic, for that the names and natures of the things are repugnant; and, consequently, * Epiph. hæres. 75. Hier. cont. Vigilant. et cont. Jovinian. Aug. lib. de hæresibus; hæres. 50. Defence, p. 15. † Dr. Fulke against Bristowe's Motives, p. 54, tit. 3. that if our Protestants' Church did hold any one confessed heresy, as here seemeth to be proved by three ancient doctors, St. Epiphanius, St. Jerome, and St. Augustine, then cannot our church, thought I, be the true Čatholic Church; and, therefore, I desired greatly to be resolved of this doubt, for that it much troubled my conscience. MY THIRD DIFFICULTY. About the first Beginners of the Protestant Religion in this age. That reform ers sent by monty of more excellent life. God are com 13. Having passed over the Epistle and Preface, wherein the former two difficulties are contained, and entering into the bulk of the book, I met with divers other difficulties of no less importance, to my seeming, than the former; but especially, to omit the rest, about the first beginners and setters forth of our Protestant doctrine in this last age, to wit, Martin Luther, with his scholars, Zuinglius, Carolostadius, and Ecolampadius in Wittenberg, that afterwards contradicted him in many things, as also John Calvin, Theodore Beza, Farellus, and some others that followed Calvin in a different way from the former, in Geneva. For that albeit I easily considered that men are always men, and have their imperfections, and that religion is not to be measured by the life of the teacher; yet, notwithstanding, I considered also, that whensoever God did send any men extraordinarily to reform the abuses or imperfections of others in his church, they were always commonly of more eminent virtue in their lives than others, as is seen by all the patriarchs and prophets, by St. John Baptist, and others, that in succeeding ages were sent by God to introduce more strict manner of life. Of the beginning and pro gress of Mar 14. But now for these men before named, Luther and the rest, this writer of the Defence doth shew, by very great testimonies, that they were men far inferior for virtuous life unto the common sort of honest men; nay, indeed, fin Luther. |