THE Primitive Rule Before The REFORMATION.  
OR A SERMON The catholic Way.  
With an Exhortation in the Afternoon upon that Text of St. Math. XIX Vers. XVI.  
{αβγδ}  
But from the Beginning it was not so:  
ANTWERP, Printed in the Year MDCLXIII.   
MATH. XIX. 8. {αβγδ} But from the Beginning it was not so. 
ORigen, being to Preach to the People, cast his eyes upon those words in the Psalmist, Why dost thou take my Law into thy mouth? Immediately his Conscience smote him for some secret sin, and instead of preaching he sate down and wept; and it was the best Sermon he ever made: It is called Lamentum Originis to this day. So, had your English Origen when he took this Gospel into his hands, and red this Text; From the Beginning it was not so; Sate down and wept for his own heresy and schism, and for the heresy and schism of all his Brethren of the English Church, who have taught a faith now almost an hundred years which was not from the Beginning, it had been a catholic Sermon to all Posterity. But seeing the Grace of God was not before his eyes, I shall fr●m the same Text, expounded after the catholic manner, endeavour, as St. Paul speaks, to show you a more excellent way.  
When the Devil could not be God; yet Ero similis Altissimi: he would be next him, The Pharisees, as proud as heretics in the Law of Nature, yet would derive their irregu●ar Customs from some Law as old as Moses▪ And our heretics, although separated from the high Priest in Christianity, the Roman Bishop, whose Faith and succession is from Christ and his Apostles, yet pretend to Antiquity: And as the Devil would be like God, they would be like the Cathol●que in some thing or other, that may set a lustre, a gloss upon their Crime: and above all, in this of Antiquity; they will be the ancient, the Primitive Christians. Thus from Moses, the Pharisees; from Christ, the heretics, in all ages, derive their false Religions; all would be from the Beginning.  
Tertullian describing the Antiquity of a catholic sets it down thus. 
Tertul. Lib. de prae cri●t. Mea est P●ssessio Ol●m possid●o habeo Origines. Et i●sis Authoribus q●o●●m f●it Res Eg● sum hae●es Apostolo●um.  Mine is the Possession, I Possess of old, I have firm and sure Beginnings, from the very Authors of the Christian Faith, I am heir to the Apostles. No Antiquity before this; yet both lew and heretic would be as ancient, Habemus Legem, say the Jews, when they crucified our Lord; Habemus Scripturas, say the heretics, when they murder his Religion.  
And it was a known Custom in Tertullians time, for heretics to fetch their Heresies as far as from the Scriptures. 
tart. de prescript Cap. 15. O●tendunt Scripturas& hac sua audicia stat●unquosdam movent in i●s● ve●o Congress●, ●im●● qu dem fatigant in●●m s capiunt medi●s cum scrupulo dimittu●●,  Obtendunt Scripturas, &c. The first thing they do, they pretend to show Scripture for all. A cunning Argument, saith the Devil, it is taken from the Beginning: and it fails not, saith Tertullian, for by this daring high way they unsettle the weak, and vex the learned, while they allow no means to determine Controversies in Faith, but that which never did, nor ever can determine any one, by using an Argument, the most plausible of all others, an Argument taken from Scripture, that is, as they think, from the very Beginning. But as God will have it, there is a more ancient way than that of the Letter, or Cortex of Scripture; There is a way, saith 
St▪ D●ony●▪ ●●●e ● pag. Lib ●. Eccl. H●●. Apost l●s sacration●m& pu●gatio●●m Doctrin●m ex animo in anim●m trans●undere-int●currente verb● proelicationis sine literis transfudi●le.  St. Dionyse, which the Apostles used, more sacred, and more free from pos●ibility of error, which was this, viz. to deliver from hand to hand independently upon the Letter, the mysterious Doctrines of our Faith: This method ever carries an uninterrupted connexion with the first Revelations or Traditions of Christ, and prevents all the possible Suggestions to heresy the Devil can make from the Letter of Scripture. This is Demonstratio a priori, to Scripture itself, as to its formality of being written: for in the three first ages every Book was brought to this Test. Doth it in all things agree with the Apostolical Doctrines which were transfused into the Apostles Successors from hand to hand, from age to age? if so, Let it be numbered in the sacred Canon of the Scriptures, not otherwise. And by this principle was the Canon of Scripture itself first accepted, then stated, and by it only interpnted to all Ages to come. This no invention of my own, but as old and older than Tertullian 
Te●tul. de presc●ipt U●i appareat veritatem esse fidei Christianae, ibi erit Veritas Scripturatum,& Expositionum,& Traditionum.  ubi appareat, &c. Where the truth of Christian Faith appears to be( and that is known always by the Original and Succession of the present Church to the Apostles, saith Tertullian.) There, and there only is the true Canon of Scripture, true Expositions, true Traditions of our Faith.  
When this way fails, viz. that Scripture, quatenus Scripture, was not ab initio: but the Revelata of Christianity were delivered another way for the 3 first Ages, viz. by Apostolical tradition, before Scripture: then the Devil and all heretics bend themselves to the proof of their adulterate Religions that way also, viz. by Antiquity itself, and Succession: And as they corrupt Scripture, so do they pervert the ancient Rules of the Fathers, whereby the Apostolical traditions were ever clearly distinguished from heretical innovations, even that famous Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis: 
Quoted by D●. Pierce.  
Id teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus cr●ditum est, Quod in demum sic, si sequamur universaliter Antiquitatem, Consensionem. Vincen. Zyrinens. advers. Hoeres. ●. 3.  Let us hold that which was every where believed: which was always believed: which was believed of all: Which is then done if we follow Universality, if we follow Antiquity, if we follow Consent. Here me thinks, as the Text of the Psalmist spake to the Conscience of Origen, Why dost thou take my Law into thy mouth? So this Rule of the Father speaks to the Soul of a reformed Divine, Why dost thou take this Rule into thy mouth, to support heresy and schism by it, which of all others is the Rule most confounding heretics that could be set down by the Providence of God, or the wit of Man?  
Yet must we grant some Antiquity, some Universality, some Consent to the Reformed Churches, and more to the English Church▪ She pretending to be the Quintessential Church of all others since the Reformation: They have indeed Tertullians Universality and Consent, viz 
Tertul de prescript. Pacem quoque miscent cum omnibus, nihil en●m interest illis licet diversa tractantibus modo ad unius Veritatis Expugnationem co●spirent.  Pacem quoque miscent cum omnibus, They are ever at Unity with all sorts of heretics who oppose the one Church, the one Truth of Christ, the grand mark of a heretic, That, And for their Succession and Antiquity, take it as it is laid down in the Records of the Church.  
The immediate heretic of Note was Witcliff, 
Anno 1380.  a man erroneous and heretical in 45 Positions, and damned in the council of Constance.  
The next to him were the Albigenses, who denied the re●l presence in the Eucharist, 
Anno 1176.  as the Reformed Churches do; and were condemned in 35 Heresies and errors. The next before them were the Waldenses condemned in 45 Errors and Heresies: all which heresies( if but name) could evince them to be the most monstrous, the most irrational that ever were name Christian: yet those are your immediate Predecessors in your confounded Faith:  

Ego Berengarius cord credo& ore profiteor Panem& Vinum q●ae ponuntur in Altari per mysterium sacrae orationis,& verba nostri Redemptoris substantialiter c●nverti in seram ac propriam ac vivificam Carnem& Sanguinem Jesu Christi Domini nostri.  But much more ancient was Berengarius, who taught the heresy against the real Presence, as the English Church doth at this day; but with this difference, he abjured the heresy before death, and taught Transubstantiation in this Confession: I do believe in my heart, and openly profess, that after the Consecrating words, the substances of Bread and Wine are converted into the Body and Blood of our Lord, Mark that, but I proceed.  
Your Antiquity is yet more famous in the Sect of the Donatists: they despised the real Presence, and gave the 
Optat. lib. 2. contra Parmen. Jusserunt Eucharistiam Canibus sundi, non sine signo Divini j●dic●i, nam i●dem Canes accensi R●b●e ips●s Dominos suon quasi lattones sancti corporis reos dent vindice tanquam ignotos& inimicos dilaniaverunt.  Eucharist to Dogs; for which Sacrilege they were torn in pieces by the same Dogs, saith St. Optatus, as ye are torn in pieces by one another for that and other Sacrileges ever since the dayes of Reformation. Ye say, the Church of all Nations failed as to its visibility, so taught the Donatist in St. August: in Psal. 10.1. Concione 2. said illa Ecclesia quae fuit omn●um Gentium non est said periit.  
They taught the Church of all Nations was then confined to Africa; and you to England: They boasted as all heretics do, that they were the little Flock, Pauci Electi: 
C●esconius. In paucis frequenter est veritas, Errare multorum est.  So taught Cresconius the Donatist, and so do ye: and this is the property of all heretics and schismatics, saith St. Aug. 
St. A●g. Lib. 4. con●●a C●●scon.  Omnes de sua paucitate gloriari. They gloried saith 
S●. A●g L●b. 4. co●tra D●●● c●p 30. Suam existimasle Ecclesiam Ca●holicam, s●d cum a● probationem erat v●ntum, erant ridicali.  St. Augustine that they were the catholic Church, but when ever they were discoursed, they were found ridiculous: so are ye: 
St. O●tot. l●b. 3 contra P●rm. Oss●●r● v●● Deo dicitis pro Ecclesia quae una est hoc un●m m●ndocci, pa●s est unam te vocare de qua fec●tis duas.  They abused God to his Face, saith Optatus, when they prayed to him for one Church of which they had made Two: So do ye, The Donatist complained of the catholic; Nescimus quid ponunt supper Altere: so do ye. They taught the Church lurked in corners, so do ye▪ They seemed witty saith St. August. when they said the catholic Church is that only which hath the Fundamental Doctrines; not that 
St. Aug. bre●culo cont. Don●●. 48 ●●itum aliquid sibi ●icere videbantu●●n C th●licae no●en non ex totius ●rbis communione ●iterpretarentur, said ●bservatione praeceptorum omnium, &c,  which is visibly diffused thorough the whole earth; 
●t Aug. Serm. 131. 81.  so witty seem ye also to be. The Donatists, saith St. Augustine 
Sacramentorum St. Aug. lib. 2. d● Bap●ismo. Quid loquuntur non inveniunt,& tamen tace re non permittuntur  never knew how to talk to purpose, nor how to hold their peace: a just Character of a Protestant divine, At length they were divided into 3 sects, Maximi any Rogatenses, in Mauritania and Urbanenses in Numidia: So are ye, into Prelacy, Presbytery, and Independency: from which 3 Factions in Africa arose the circuncellions, the Religious Cut-throats, who ruined at once the catholic Faith, and all Africa; as ye have, and will ruin, if God prevent not, the Christian Faith here, and three Kingdoms; These are your Predecessors, and this your Antiquity: Nay,  
ye are yet more ancient: the Novata n schismatic are yours. The Valentinians, the Ebionites, the gnostics, all your Predecessors in one point or other of your perplexed Faiths: Lastly Simon Magus himself was yours, he the first Reformer, he Reformed Simon Peter, as ye do his Successors: This your goodly Antiquity from Witcliff to Simon Magus, 〈◇〉, ●ven to the ●●v●l.  

MEN, Brethren, and Fathers, are these things so? Is there no Antiquity, no Succession among the Reformed Churches, but what comes from 〈◇〉 D●●●l, 〈◇〉 a Race of heretics? Then is it high time to renounce their wicked Communion, and return back to the catholic Church and Faith which was from the Beginning.  
And certainly such a Faith, such a Church as the English fallible Church is, was never ab initio. No such Church founded by Christ and his Apostles: Fallibility being the Eternal refuge and sink of all heresy. A Church and fallible! is a Spiritual Cheat: 〈◇〉 ●●●●h 〈…〉: it is Religion always in a Cloud: it is the Mother of Opinion, Doubt, Despair, and Damnation. No, out of question the Church of our Lord, which was from the Beginning, was such a Church as St. Paul speaks of, Columna& Firmamentum Veritatis; a Church that cannot err: a Church infallible; what else is Firmamentum Veritatis? and after the Church of the Apostles, if the Succeeding Church was not Infallible also, what assurance hath any man of any Revelation written or unwritten? And, if so soon as Scripture came in, Infallibility went out of the Church, then are Christians in a worse condition since the Canon of the Scriptures than they were before; for then the Church and her infallibility, taught all the fundamentals that are now in Scripture, plainly; whereas the Scriptures, if it hath all those fundamentals, yet cannot teach them after an infallible manner: for if it could, then no church were properly fallible, the evidence of the Scripture being such as takes away all doubt, must also take away all fallibility: But if all churches be fallible, and Scripture inevident also, from these two principles, the one inevident, the other fallible, there can arise nothing but doubt and infidelity among Rational men: To prevent both which— 
Iraen. lib. 3. c. 3. Qui cum Episc●pa●us Successione Charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt relics vero qui à principally Successione absistunt, quocunqueloco colliguntur Susceptos habere vel quasi heretic s,& malae sententiae vel quasi scinden●es,& elatos,& sibi placen es.   
In the catholic church of Christ, saith Irenaeus, there is Charisma Veritatis certum: the Grace of certainty, of Infallibility: But all other churches that congregate apart, as the Reformed churches have done from the great Succession, they are indeed fallible, they are heretical, schismatical societies. Only that Church, saith 
Tertul. lib. prescript. Habeo Origines firmas,& Ordinem Episcoporum per Su●cessionem ab ini i● decu●ientem.  Tertullian, Habet origines firmas, fute beginnings, for her bounds are set, her foundations laid, her faith built: The Apostles Traditions, the Holy scriptures: the Succession of Doctrines; all these together preserve her, Infallible for ever 
Epiphan. Hae●es. 55. Termini nobis pusiti,& fundamenta,& aedificatio fidei& Apostolorum traditions& Scriptura Sanctae& Successiones Doctrinae& Veritas undequaque munita.  Veritas unde quaque munita, saith Epiphanius. There are two Authorities,( i.e. two Infallibilities, or else Christs and the Apostles preaching is all in vain) the one of Scripture, the other of the catholic Church, saith Lyrinensis: For the first Infallibility of a Rule cannot regulate our Faith without the latter Infallibility of an Expositer; which two Authorities are equal, saith Gerson, the chancellor of Paris, upon St. Augustines words, Non imparem posuit authoritatem in Ecclesia& Evangelio; dicens, ego vero Evangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoveret authoritas.  
And it is plain, that 
St. Aug. Ep. 28, 29. ad Donat. Ecclesiae morem fundatissimam sidem fundatissimum, consuetudinem Ecclesiae fundatissimae; authoritatem stabilissimam fundatissimae Ecclesiae.  St. Augustine every where against the Donatists, asserts Christs Church to be infallible, when he styles the Church of Christ, the most established Authority of the most founded Church, when he names her customs the most established: her Faith the most settled: the most permanent Faith: a Faith that cannot alter: a Church that cannot deceive. 
St. Chrysost. ysost. Ecc●●sia, radices in C●●●o potius fixas habet quam in Ter●is.  St. Chrysostome gives a Reason of such her Infallibility, because her Foundations are not laid on Earth, but in Heaven. What ever the Church which hath Antiquity, Universality, and Consent, shall teach, or declare, as matter of Faith, of That in no wise may the Christian doubt, 
Vi●cent Lyrinens. Q●●d ubiq. &c id sib● quoque intelligat absque ulla dubitatione esse credendum▪  saith Lyrinens. And why so, if not infallible? Lastly, 
St. Berna●d, Eg● v●ro quod al●●cc●●sia ac ep●sec●●us& t●ne●& trado  St. Bernard gives the same assurance to Christians; Whatever the catholic Church of Christ reacheth, that I must surely believe and deliver, Why so ●ecure, if the catholic Church itself may err? No, it cannot, it shall not err for ever. Ecclesia est Deus, saith St. Chysostome, the Church is infallible, for the Church is God: that is, the head of the Church is Christ, and the head of Christ is God; So ancient an Article of our Faith is the Churches Infallibility.   

IF, from the Beginning of Christianity, there was a Church which was infallible, and was so to continue in visibilty through all ages, that All may securely come unto her; The next thing to be inquired, is, which among so many pretending Societies, is that one Infallible Church, whose Universality for Place, whose Consent for Succession, whose Antiquity for Time, may assure us, She is that Church that was ab initio: was from the Beginning, and is the unquestioned church of Christ, unto this de● that 〈…〉 ll saving 〈◇〉.  
Now the English Church, to speak in 
St. Aug. Lib 1. cont. Parmen. M●lta frusta de illo frusto per totam A● icam facta sunt. Sic sic necesse est ut minutatim Secti concissiq●e d●spereant qui tumo e● animositatis suae Catholicae p●cis s●nct●simo vinculo p●etulerunt.  St. Augustines phrase, it was at first not Ecclesia, but Frustum; an inconsiderable remnant, compared with the catholic Church, from which it was, and is at this day divided. And as St. Aug. observed of the many Sects of Africa, so we of the numerous spawn of that first English Schism. Multa frusta estis de illo frusto; Many contemptible Schisms are sprung from the Original schismatics, by the just plague of God, saith Aug. who will ever confounded by sundry Divisions those who first proudly broke the catholic Peace of the Christian World.  
This English, this distracted Church, hath not then the face of a catholic Church.  
But there is a most ancient Church, founded by our Lord upon St. Peter, and St. Paul, saith Irenaeus, 
St. I●●●. L●b. 3. Cap 3. M●xi●●ae& antiq●issi●ae& omn●bus c●gnitae& a●gloriosissi●●s di●obus apostles fundatae& constitutae Ecclesiae ●eam quam habet ab apostles Traditionem& Annunciationem hominibus fide● per successiones Episcopoium pervenientem usque ad nos indicantes; Confundimus omnes eos qui quoquo modo praeterquam oportet colligunt.  in that promise; Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I build my Church, and the Ga●es of Hell shall not prevail against it, Matth. 16. That is the Church founded by our Lord, to be the Light of Nations. It is therefore the prerogative of that Church, of that pastor, to be infallible, saith 
〈◇〉, Bernard in luke. 22. Dignum namque arbitror ibi potissimum resarci●i damna fidei ubi fides non posset sentire defectum. Haec est praerogativa hujus sedis. cvi enim alteri dictum est? Ego pro te rogavine deficiat● 〈◇〉  St. Bernard, because of our Lords Prayer; Ego pro te rogavi Petre ne deficiat fides tua; and thither all Heretical Churches ought to return, as to the Mount of God, thence to repair the ruins of their decayed Faith, saith the same Father. If you have left your Fahers Faith, and spent that Patrimony among Harlots, i.e. adul●erate heretics, be not ashamed, but as spiritual Prodigals, return back to the Roman Church, that begot you into the Faith of Christ, for there the inheritance of our Fathers Faith is kept where it cannot be corrupted, saith 
St. Hieronim. P●ofl gato a subol● male patrimonio apud vos solos incorrupta Patrum servatur Authoritas.  St. Jerome. This is that infallible Church, in the express words of St. Bernard, and St. Jerome, and all Anriquity.  
From the Beginning therefore was the Roman church made the Principality of christians 
St. Iraen. hanc Ecclesiam propter potiorem Principal●tatem necesse est omnem Ecclesiam conveni●e.  saith Iraeneus, and all churches bound to recur thither as Subjects to their Prince. It was the institution even of our Lord himself, saith St. 
Epist. 1. Clementis, Nec inter Apostolos institutio par fuit fed unus omnibus praefuit.  Clement, that the churches government should begin in St. Peter over the Apostles themselves, to teach the Christian World obedience to St. Peters Successors for ever. There then began the Supremacy of the Roman pastor even in the Apostles time, in St. Peter, who was the beginning of the Orthodox Faith: the first Priest of the church of God 
St. Clemens. P trum Aopstolorum P trem vocat qui clav●s Regnicaelestis ●ccepit, Epist. ●.  the Apostles Father, the counsellor of christians, the Pillar of the church, the head of Apostolical Society, saith St. Chrisistome: In short saith the same Father, he was President over the whole world, in his 42 homily upon St. Ignatius, he was the Apostle both of Jew and gentle, saith St. Jerome 
Hieron. in Epis ad Savinam. Cornelium pr●mùm ab Apostolo Bapt zitum salutem gentium dedicasse& ad illius merit● pertinuisse mysterium, quo Petrus de Circumcisioni● ang●stiis transferebatur ad preput ii Latitudinem ex clement.  and because of the eminent power given him by our Lord, he came down from Antioch to Rome to confounded the Western Idolaters, saith 
Eusebius. Probatissi●us omnium Discipulus qui obscur●orem mundi plagam occiden●is velut omn um potentior illuminaret p aeceptus est.  Eusebius!  
And throughout all Ages from the Beginning it was so.  
The Roman Bishop, from St. Peter to this day was the supreme pastor and governor in Church-matters over the whole House of God. Simon Peter lovest thou me? Feed my Sheep, Feed my Lambs, Joh. 21: Upon which words all Antiquity glossed as 
St. Bernard lib. 3. de Corsid. c. 8. Tu es cvi clav●s traditae s●nt, cvi oves creditae habent illi assignato grege● singuli singulos, Tibi universi crediti uni unus, nec modo ovium said& Pastorum, Tu unus omnium Pastor. Unde id probem quaeris? Ex Verbo Dum. Joh. 21, &c. Epist. 131 Plenitudo Potestatis supper universas orbis Ecclesias singulari praerogativa, Apostolicae sedildonata est, qui●gitur potestati huic refistit, Dei ordinationi resistit.  St. Bernard doth to Eugenius; Thou art pastor of all the Pastours: Thou art not governor of this, or that Region, or City, but of all the Sheep of Christ. Other Pastours have the care of some part, thou art called to the fullness of power over all. They have their limited power, thine is extended over all their powers. Thy privilege is not to be shaken by the tempest of any heretic. And Ep. 131. The fullness of power over the churches of the World is given by a singular prerogative to that See of Rome, and whosoever resists this Ordination, resists the power of God.  
Thus spake all the Fathers, upon this, and the like Texts of Scripture, from the Apostles dayes, to St. Bernard.  
And thus spake the 4 first General Councils of the World.  
The Nicene thus, 
Ca●●n 39. Arab. Q●i ten●t sedem Romae Caput& P●●nceps est omnium Patria●charum quandoquidem ips● est primus sicut Petrus cvi data est potestas in omnes Principes Christianos& omnes popules eorum. Et qui sit Vicarius Christi Domini nostri supper cunctos p●pulos& cunctam Ecclesiam Christian●m& quicunque contradixerit a Synodo Excommunicatur.  Canon 39. The Roman Bishop is Head and Prince of all the patriarches: He is First, as St. Peter was, to whom 〈◇〉 power is given over christian Princes, and their people. He is the Vicar of Christ our Lord▪ over all people, and all christian churches, and who denies this, let him be Excommunicated.  
In the 
Theodoret. Lib. 5. cap. 10. Damasus Oriental. Epicopis q●od vestra Charitas debitam s●di Apostolicae reverentiam ●●●●buit filii hononatissimi, vobis ipsis quoque maximo honori est. Nam tam& si in Sancta Eccl●sia( in qua lanctus Apostoli sedent nos decuit, quo pacto illius gubernacula quae suscepimus tractanda sint) nobis primae partes deferuntur, &c. Theodor. Lib. 5. c●p. 9. Vos quo fraternam vestram erga nos charitatem declararetis, Consilio per Dei voluntatem ac nutum Romae coacto, nos velut membra propria pro Imperatoris sanctissimi Litt●re● accersivistis.  2d. Council, Damasus was President, who summoning the Eastern Bishops to that Council, by the Mandate of his Letters, sent to Theodosius the Emperour, tells them, he had received the first parts of Government over the whole Church; to whom the Eastern Bishops, in their Letters to Damasus, and St. Ambrose, return their obedience in these words. Ye have sent for us to the Council, by the Imperial Letters, as your own Members, to whom we give all reverence.  
And ( n) three Emperours made a Law, 
In Cod. Justiniani. De summa Trinitate& side Catholica Leg. 1. Imperatores Gratianus, Valentinianus,& Theodosius.  that the Empire should embrace no Religion, 

Cunctos populo quos Clementia nostrae rigit Imperium in tali volumus religione versari quam D. P  
lum tradidisse Romans, R●ligiosque adhuc ad ●p●o insinuata declarat quanque Pontificem Damasum sequi claret.  
Prosper in Chronicis. N●storianae impietati praecipua Cyrilli Alexandrini Episcopi Industria,& Papa Caele●tini repugnat Authoritas.   but what St. Peter gave the Romans, which Damasus the High Priest of the Romans kept to this day. And St. Ambrose, in Timoth. 1. Cap. 3. saith, the Church is the House of God, whose rector is Damasus.  
In the 3d. General Council, Nestorius was condemned of heresy, not by the Council alone( saith Evagrius, and St. Prosper) but by the Authority of Calestine, that is, saith Lyrinensis, not only the Latera, the Bishops of the South and East; but, Caput Orbis, the Head of the whole World, celestine condemned him.  
The Chalcedon Council, 
Chalced. Contil. Act. 16. Senatus dixit omnem quidem primatum& honorem praecipuum secundum Canones Antiquae Romae Dei amantissimo Archiepiscopo conse vari.  of 600. and odd Fathers, in the first, fifth, eighth, tenth, sixteenth Actions, define it is as an Apostolical Truth; that all Primacy both of Honour and Government, of right belongs to the Arch-Bishop of Rome, Act. 16. And in this Council, Paschasinus cites the sixth Canon of the Nicaene Council; Quod Ecclesia Romana semper habuit primatum.  
Thus the Acts, the Epistles of these 4 general Councils, and the general Councils since, both the representative church of Christ, and diffusive, in all ages, upon all church decisions, city and suppose, the Roman Bishops Supremacy, as one of the most ancient and fundamental customs in the church of God.  
Yet, as St. Gregory tells us; heretics always attempt to subvert this church, because she is animated by the holy Ghost.  
Sometimes, they tell a story even out of St. Gregory, that it was a mark of Antichrist, to be so much as name Universal Bishop: who styles it a new, profane voice, Ep. 32. and blasphemy, &c. As if St. Gregory, when he wrote against the Universality of John the schismatic of Canstantinople, intended to abrogate the Universal Supremacy of the Roman pastor; a primitive tradition of the christian Faith. I demand,  
Could it be a profane voice? could it be blasphemy in more than 
St. Greg. L●b. ●. E●. 76 80 Solus Pon●i●ex Romanus a tanta S nodo appella●ur Universalis E●ic pus. L b. 7. Epist. 3.  600. Fathers, in the Chalcedon Council, to salute St. lo, Universal Bishop? and yet St. Gregory saith it was the voice of the whole Council. And when Eulogius, Patriarch of Al●xandria, 
In D●m●●tione D●osc●●. S●nctissimus& B●atissimus Papa Un versalis Emersia L●o. &c.  gave St. G egory the title of Universal Bishop, St. Gregory did not reject the title as blasphemous, but in humility wrote back to him thus; 
Gregor. Non quaero verbis prospera●ised moribus.  I affect not glorious titles, but to serve God. In which sense only, St. lo, and St. Gregory, refused that name of Universal Bishop. But as to Supremacy itself, no Saints practised it more, or more universally, over the whole converted World, than St, lo, and St. Gregory. First then,  
St. lo governed all the Bishops of the christian World, not as an Antichristian Usurper, but by the command of God. He declares to the Bishops of 
Ep. 16. ad Ep sc. Sicilia ut pro om●iu● Ecclesiarum im●g o Vigilemus est●ct●. Monen●e enim Dominicae Vocis ●●●etio, &c.  Sicily, that he was President over our Lords Flock, and that his care extended over all the churches. 
Epist. 30. ad M●rtranum& Faustum. Quantam curam 〈◇〉 Ecc●esiae ha● 〈…〉  ( r) In his Letters to Martian and Faustus, he tells them. We have the 〈◇〉 of the whole church. He governed in Alexandria, when he admonished Dioscorus thus: 
Epist. ad Dioscorum. Alexan. Petrus Apostolum a Domino accepit Principatum& Romana Ecclesia in ejus permanet institutis. Epist. ad Dioscorum. Epist, alexander. Ep. 45. ad Synod. Chalced. T●men in his fratribus Paschasino Lucencio Episcopis. Bonifacio& Basilio Prae●byteris qui ab Apostolica seed directi sunt. Me Synodo vestra fraternitas Existimet praesidere. council. Chalced. ad. Leonem. Dioscorus contra ipsum cvi Vineae custodia a Salvatore Commissa est extendit insaniam i.e. contra tuam Apostolicam sanctitatem.  Peter received an Apostolical Principality or pre-eminence over the Apostles, and the Roman Church continueth in the same, institution. He ruled the Patriarch of Constantinople in 
Epist. 8. ad Flavianum. Constantinop; Episc. Facti tui nosse, volumnus rationem& usque ad nostram notitiam cuncta deferri.  Flavians case. He governed in 
lo Epist. 82. Anastatio. Episc. Thessaloni. Vices mei moderaminia ribi delegavi ut curam quam principaliter Universis Ecclesiis ex divina institutione debemus.  Thessalonica, where he made Anastatius his Deputy, because, by the command of God, he had the prime care over all the Churches, Ep. 82, He ruled in Germany and France, Ep. 86. He governed the Bishops of 
Ep. 87. ad Episc. Vienn●e cvi q●isquis principatum aestimat denegandum semetipsum in Infernum demergit.  Vienna, Ep. 87. where he proclaims Hilary, and every man damned, that opposeth the principality of the power of the Roman pastor. He ruled the Patriarch of Constantinople, Anatolius, Epist. 52. 
Cu● omnium Apostolorum par esset Electio. Unitatem datum est ut cae●eris prae mineret; ut ad unam P●tri sedem Universalis Ecclesiae cu●a conflueret. E●. 82, ●d A●ostatium.  and proves this universal Authority to have been in the Roman pastor from the Beginning, viz. when the Apostles were equally chosen to that Office; yet saith St. lo, it was given to one then to govern all the rest, that to the one Seat of Peter, the care of all the churches might belong. Thu● spake this Saint in imitation of 
St. Cypr. Lib. and Unitate Ecclesiam Tu es P●trus, &c. Et q●amv●s apostles omnibus post suam R●surrectionem parem tribuat potestarem& dicat. Sicut Pater mistiet me,& Ego mitto Vos, tamen ut Unitatem manifesta●et, Unam Cathedram constituit,& Unitatis ejusdem originem ab uno incipientem suo authoritate peposuit. Hoc e●an● utique caeteri Apostoli quod Petrus pari consortio praediti,& honoris,& potestatis, said Exo●diam ex unitate ptoficiscitur. Primatus Petro datur▪ ut una Christi Ecclesia una Cathedi●●●●straretur.  St. Cyprian; who, when he had said all the Apostles had equal power and dignity with Peter: he adds, that beyond that grace of Apostleship, St. Peter had another power given him for unity sake over the Apostles: said Exordium ex Unitate, &c. The primacy is given to Peter, saith St. Cyprian, that one church of Christ, one chair might be shown to the whole World, for the un●ty of christians. With whom also 
St. H●eron. in Mat. ●6. Inter duode●im unus eligitur, ut capite constituto Schismatis tollatur occasio.  St. Jerome accords, in these words; Among the twelve, one is chosen Head or governor over the rest of the Apostles, that there be no schism in the church of Christ.  
This St. lo, when Anatolius, moved by the Emperour, that the Roman Bishop would grant precedency of privileges to the Patriarch of Constantinople,( because it was New Rome) be●ore that of Alexandria, or Antioch; he reprehends Anatolius for his insolency; and tells him: 
Epist. 52. ad Ma●tierum Multum Anotol●us proprio detrahit mer●to. Si illicito optat crescere augmento. Habeat sicut optamus Constantinopolitana Civitas gloriam suam, ac protegente dextra Dei, diuturno clement●ae vestrae fruatur imperio. Alia tamen ratio est rerum, humanarum alia Divinatum: n●c p●aeter illa● Petram quam Dominus in fund●mento posuit, stabilis e●it ulla constructio: P●●p●ia perdit qui indebita concupiscit. N●n dedignetur R●giam civitatem, quam non potest A●ostolicam facere sede●.  Alia Ratio est rerum Secularium, alia Divinarum; the dignities of the Church depend not upon the motions of State: let Anatolius be content to be Bishop of the Royal City which he shall never be able to make the apostolic See. And when Anatolius urged ●he third canon of the first Council of Constantinople, where it was defined: 
Constantinopolitanus Episcopus habeat honoris Prim●tu post Romanum Episcopum, propteria quod Urbs ipsa sit junior Roma.  That the Bishop of Consta●t●nople have primacy of honour next to the Roman Bishop, because that City is New Rome; he denies 
Epist. 5● aut 53 Quorundam Episcoporum subscriptionem factum esse, cum quadam ejus notitia ad Apostolicam fidem delata.  it to be a canon of that Council, but a suscription of some Eastern Bishops only, in that it was contrary to the 2 canon of the same Council, which decreed, that all privileges to Antioch& Alexandria be kept according to the Nicaene canons. And in an Epistle to 
Epist ad Pucheriam. Frustra Episcoporum quorundam profertur consensus, cvi tot annorum series negavit effectum.  Pulcheria, he styles it a vain attempt of a few Eastern Bishops, to exalt that See, because it was New Rome; an argument which St. lo scorned, when he gave the quiter contrary reason▪ for the Roman Bishops supremacy: viz. that Rome became the head of the world, because St. Peter sate there: and that 
Sermon 1. in natali Petri& Paul● Roma per sacram beati Petri sedem c●p●● orbis efferturlatius praesidet Religione Divina quam dominatione terrena.  Cities rule extended further by its Religion, than ever it could do by its secular Domination. Neither did St. Peter, saith lo, come from Antioch to Rome, because it was the imperial seat, but that the great City of sup●rstition, might be made the chief seat of Re●ig●on, from whence the christian Faith might confounded the Idolaters of the whole earth.  
And as impossible is it, 
Epist. 75 Calcedonensem Synodum Apostolica sedis firmavit authoritas.  that there evet was any such Canon in the Chalcedon council as heretics boast of, viz. That in the penultimate Canon of the said council; it was defin d, that the Patriarch of Constantinople have equal privileges with the Roman Bishop; because that City was New Rome: 
Tom. 1. council. Quoniam ubi P●incapatus Sacerdot●m& Christianae relic on●s caput ab Imperatore caelesti constitutum est. Justum non est ut illie Imp●rator Tertenus habeat potestatem.  when Constantine declares he left that City to St Peters Successors, for another reason, viz because it was not fit that the Earthly Emperours should Rule there, where the principality of Priests, and head of the Christian Religion was placed by the command of God. 
Epist. 38 44.46, 66.77.86.   
And at the same time Constantine names Silvester the Universal Bishop. And the same council at Calcedon names lo Bishop of the Universal Church. And in the 6th. Action, Paschasmus cites the 6th. Canon of 300 and 18 Fathers: That the Roman Bishop had the Primacy from the Beginning: and the whole council spake thus: We have well considered that all Primacy and chief honour, according to the Canons, be reserved to the Bishop of Old Rome, not only Primacy of Order, but of Government or supremacy over all christians, 

Ep. 85. Pro solicitudine quam universae Ecclesiae impend mus ex Divina i●stitutione.  
Exercuit Primatum in Epi●copos Italiae L●b. 1. Ind●ct. 9. Ep●st. 22. Lib. 2. Epist. 15. Lib. 1. Indict. 9. Ep. 16. Ep. 31. Exercuit Primatum in Episcopos africa. Lib. 1 Ep. 72. ad G●rmadium, Lib. 7. Epist. 32. ad Dominicum Carthaginensem Episcopum. Exercuit Primatum in Episcopos Hispaniae. Lib. 11. Epist. 50. Johanni defensori. Ep. 53. Exercuit Primatum in Episcopos Greciae Lib. 2. Ep. 6, 7. Lib. 4. Epist. 15. Johanni primae Justinianae. Lib 4. Epist. 50 ad Corinthiarum Episcopum. Lib. 10. Epist. 36. Episcopo Spodititano: Johannes primae Justinianae Civitatis Episcopo, vices servat nostras. Exercuit Primatum in Episcopos Siciliae. Lib. 2. Indict. 10. Epist. 4. Maximianum Episcopum Syracusanum supper cunctas Siciliae Ecclesias vices sedis Apostolicae ministrare decernimus. Lib. 11. Epist. 42. ad Johannem. Episc. Panormitanum. Illud admonemus, ut Apostolicae Sedis Reverentia nullius presumptione turbetur: Tunc enim status membrorum integer per●●anet, si caput fidei nulla pulset injuria. Rexit in Corsica. Lib. 1. Epist. 76. Leeni Episcopo in Corsica. Rexit in Sardinia. Lib. 7. Epist. 2. Indict. ●. in Dalmatia. Lib. 4. Epist. 9. Episcopis per illyricum. Ut Johanni quem confirmat velut delegato sedis Apostolicae obediant, Lib. 5. Epist. 26. debuistis repulsum cognoscere, quem seeds Apostolica repettebar. Lib. 5. Ep. 48. Exercuit Primatum in Episcopos Galliae. Lib. 4. Epist. 51▪ 52▪ 53. Lib. 4. Indict. 13. Epist. ●1. ad Monasterium Sancti M●dardi in Si quam contentionem in fidei causa evenire contigerit, cujus vehemens sit dubietas& pro sua magnitudine, Judicium sedis Apostolicae indigeat. Ad nostram ducere studeat rationem, quatenus nobis valeat congrua sine dubio sententia terminari.  
Ep. ad M●uritium Imperatorem Nullus Patriarcharum, &c. quia si summus Patriarcha universalis dicatur, Patriarcharum nomen cae●eris denegatur.   saith lo, Ep. 85. We have received the care of all the Churches, by the command of God.  
St. Gregory exercised the like supremacy over all the Churches. Primum in orb pontificatum gerebat, saith our own Bede. He had the first Priesthood of the christian world. This Gregory governed the Bishops of Italy, as of Ravenna, Naples, Aquileia, Cuma; of Africa, Spain, Graece, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Dalmatia; the Gallican Churches, Ireland, England: Deposed, Excommunicated, appointed Deputies, received Appeals, decided in all Church matters throughout the converted world, as is evident in many of his Epistles, especially in that to Vigilius of Arles; where he gives in charge, That if any contention happen in the matters of Faith, it be referred to our knowledge, that it may receive an infallible or final decision from the Apostolical chair.  
From all which it is apparent that the Title of Universal Bishop, which John affencted, was of another nature, from that Office of Universal Pastor or Bishop; which all good Christians ever confessed of Divine right ever to belong to the Roman Bishop: which appears from the Epistle of Pelagius and Gregory, where they charge him with Antichristian pride for affecting a Title and a jurisdiction that would destroy all the Bishops of the world, and christianity itself. In two respects, First, as a Rebel or traitor to Gods Deputy, he affencted universality of Government, the Roman Bishop being the sole spiritual Prince of all christians, by the command of Christ. Secondly, in that his aim was to destroy every Bishop, while himself as Universal Patriarch governed all the Presbytery of the Eastern World. Whence it followed that when he died, Episcopacy died also; and Presbytery, and the Devil were to govern the church of God in his place. Thi● was the antichristian design, as St. Greg. declares it in its fo●mality, Lib. 4. Ep. 30. Ut despectis fratribus Episcopus appetas solus vocari. And Pelagius gives the same reason: Quia si summus, &c. For if he be name Universal Patriarch, in his sense, the Name and Office of Patriarch or Bishop will be taken away from all others.  
Lastly, St. Gregory concludes with St. lo, that the Roman Bishops supremacy was not derived from Phocas, or any Emperour, 
L●b. 2. Ep. 30. Sedem Apostol●em Deo Authore platam cun●ti● consta●e Ecclesiis.  but from the Authority of God, Lib. 2. Ep. 30. The Apostolical See, God being the Author, is President over all Churches  

In M●tth. 16. ●… ●niq Romanam E clesiam ob ea ●… ae Christus dixit ●… d P●t●um omnium Ecclesiarum esse ●… aput. Psal. Paenit. 4.  And by virtue of those words to our Saviour, in Mat. 16. to Peter: Thou art, &c. The Roman Church is made head of all the Churches. A Title which the Roman Bishop ever had from St. Peters dayes. He is the head of all Priests, and of the Christian Religion saith Constantine of Silvester; That Chair is the Chair in which sate the Head of all the Apostles, 

S●. O●t●t. Cathedra i● q●a sedent omni●um Apostolorum Caput Petrus. St Aug, in M●tth. 16 Post S●lvatore●●omnes in P●i●o Co●tin●ntur Ipsum enim constituit Caput Eo●um.  
S●rm. 127. de Te●pore. and us Cap●t Ecclesia& Immobilis fidei fundamentum, V ncent. Lyrines. N n solum Caput O●bis said Latera Cap. 42. contra Haereses.   Peter, saith Optatus. After our Saviours decease, all Christians are under St. Peter, for our Lord made him their Head, saith St. Augustine. Peter is the Head of the Church, and the Foundation of our Faith, that cannot fail, saith the same Father. He,( that is celestine) Head of the World, saith Vincentius Lyrinensis, condemned Nestorius. The Bishop of the City of Rome, saith 
Actione. ●t. Cum omnes ordine confed●ssent 〈◇〉 ante cancellos Altaris Paschasinus Vicarius s dis Apost●l●cae dixit Papa urbis Romae q●ae est Caput omnium Ecclesiarum.  Paschasinus, before 600 and odd Fathers, who is the Head of all the Churches. And the whole Council wrote to lo thus; 
Synod. Chalcedon. ad Leonem. Sacerdotibus tu quidem sicut memb●is Caput peras.  Thou art set over all the Priests, as the Head is over the Members. Thus was this Title of Head given to the Roman pastor, from St. Peter, downward by all Antiquity of the first five ages after the Apostles.  
Then it was not the fashion to torture the brains of men with these novel scruples: As, That, this Head of the Church may be an Idolater, as Marcellinus; a heretic, as Liberius, there may be three Heads at once, as in the Council of Basil; there hath been sometime none at all. In such cases, what shall become of the Body of Christs Church? It must follow its Head, and be either an Heathenish Body, an Heretical Body, a Schismatical Body, or no Body at all, where no Head is. With these perplexities do your Socinian-wits amaze the over-credulous people of this besotted Nation. Whereas,  
Our fore-Fathers solved all these petty doubts long ago; viz. If 
M●rtellinus seipsum judicavit, nulla enim seeds jadicet primam sedem.  Marcellinus be an Idolater out of fear, then let him judge himself, for no man living can judge the first Authority. If Liberius be a heretic in a forced subscription only, all the world shall follow him safely in his catholic Decrees. If no Head: if many Heads at once, we must, saith 
St. Cyprian. Nobis disterendae huj●s rei necessitas mayor incu●bit quibus post excessum Nobilissimae memoriae V●i Fabiani, N●ndum est Episcopu● propter rerum& temporum nec●ssit t●● c nstitu●●● qui ●mnia i●ta ●●●i e●●●& eo●●● q●●●●apsi ●unt possi cum authorit●t& co●sili● habere rationem,  St. Cyprian, wait, resting upon the former traditions of Faith and Discipline, till God shall sand us an undoubted Authority, in that pl●ce, to decide all the emergent controversies of the Church.  
Put the case as high as you will, let the Roman Bishop be a Necromancer, as vicious in Mor●lls, as Ba●●nius, and Erasmus, and Stapleton, speak some of them to have been; 
St August. ad litteras D●na●●st●e in Ilum aut●m second nem Ep●●cop●●um qui duci ur ab ipso Petro usque ad Ana●●atium qui nunc eandem C●●hedram ●ede●etia ●si quispi●m Trad●tor per illa tempora surrep●ill●t nihil praejudicare Ecclesiae& Innocentibus Christianis quibus Dominus prov●dens ait de profitis malis. M●tth. 23. Quae dicunt facire quae autem faciunt nolite facere dicunt enim& non faci●nt: ut ce●ta sit spes fidelibus quae non in homine said in Domino collocata nunquam tempestate Sacril●gi Schismatis dissipetur.  St. Augustine hath put a case beyond all these; what if he be a Traditor, one that aims to betray christianity? Yet fear not, saith the Father, he shall never be able to prejudice the Faith of Innocent Christians, for whom our Lord hath provided, saying Mat. 23. do what they say, not what they do: that is, what they teach as the Successors of the high Priest in the house of God; That observe to do, and be confident in our Lords word, and not in man; for he hath promised that no tempest of heresy or schism shall ever arise thence to abuse the Faith of the Christian world.  
And so visible hath the providence of God been over this Church in preventing all heresy thence, that the Roman pastor still suppressed every heresy as it arose to infect the world.  
Her Simon Peter damned Simon Magus the first heretic. Her Victor suppressed Blastus and the Quartodecimans of Asia. Her Felix anathematized Sabellius& Samosatenus▪ Her Cornel●us confounded the Novatian heresy. Her Meltiades& Stephen extinguished the Donatists of Africa. Her Pontianus oppressed the Montanists: Her Sylvester, Faelix, Julius& Liberius wholly destroyed the Arian faction Her Damasus condemned the Apollinarists and Macedonians. Her Anastatius the O●igenists. Her Zozymus checked the Pelagian heresy. Her celestine excommunicated Nestorius. Her lo overthrew the Eutichian heresy. Her Gregory the great declared against the Eastern schism, begun in John of Constantinople. Her Adrian subverted the Iconoclasts& Photius his schism. Her Nicholas sentenced the Berengarian heresy. Her Clement, at the council at Vienna, suppressed the Beguardi and Beguius, the fore-runners of the Protestant heretics. Her Martin prevented the heresy of Wickcliffe. Her Eugenius in the valentine Council reduced the Eastern schismatics to Communion. Her Paul the third, and pus the fourth in that famous council at Trent damned the heresies of the Reformers, Lutherans and Calvinists.  
Thus, from the Beginning to this day, 

De Liberi● S. Jerom. in Catal●go Viror. illust. For●un●tianus Aquil●iensis in hoc det●stabilis habetur, quod Liberium primus soilicitavit& fregit,& ad subscriptionem hereseos compulit. Zozomen. Lib. 4. c. 14. Nam cum eudoxus& caeteri cum eo Antiochiae heresis Aeianae fautores Epi●tolam Hosii nacti fuissent rumorem dissiparunt, Libertum quoque verbum Consubstantiale rejec●sse.  
Zozomen lib. 4. cap. 4. Vic●ssim autem Confessionis fidei form●lam a Lib rio addux●runt, quae illis q●i filium Patri non substantia,& caeteris rebus omnibus simili●er asseverarent interdixit Ecclesiâ.  
Socrat. lib 4. ca●. 11. Macedoniani Liberio Literas osterunt; ille eas recipere noluit. Nam eos sectae Arianae faatores dixerit, propteria ab Ecclesia recipi non posse, utpote qui sidem Nicaeni Consilii abrog●ssent. Epist. Liberii ad Constantium August N hil addidi Epic●patus Uchis Romae, Nihil minus passus sum,& illam sidem servans, quae per successi●nem tantorum Episcoporum cucurrit, illibatam custodire ●emper exopto. St. Athanas Epist. and solitariam vitam og ntes. Magna quoque& ibi dicendi Libettate usus est. Desine i quiens Imperator prosequi Christianos: Ne tenta per me haereticam Impietatem in Ecclesiam introducere. Ad omnia potius parati sumus quam nos Christiani eo deven●amus ut Ariani appellamur. Liberius post Exactum in Exilio Biennium inflexus est minisque mortis ad subscriptionem inductus. Verum illud illud ipsum& eorum violentiam,& Liberii in haeresim odium,& suum pro Athanasio suffragium cum Liberos affectus habebat satis coarguit: Quae enim per tormenta contra priorem sententiam extorta sunt ca jam non metuentium, said ita cogentium Voluntates habendae sunt.   hath the Roman Churches Pastor, and her Supremacy confounded all heretics and schismatqiues of 16 Ages, and her self not in the least spotted with any heresy from the Beginning. Yet as the Donatists of old, so the modern Socinians of the English Clergy, charge heresy upon one eminent Bishop of the Roman succession, viz. Liberius, who was with Athanasius the Antesignanus of the Nicaene faith, of his time; who protested to the Arian Emperour he would endure all torments, and death, before he would suffer the Arian heresy to infect the Christian world. And when he was in Exile, he subscribed the Arian heresy, saith St. Jerome, forced to it by the detestable Portunatianus of Aquileia; yet he did no: subscribe the Arian heresy saith, Zozomen, but eudoxus and the Aetian heretics spread that rumour in the East after H●sius had submitted to the Emperour, which cunning report of the Arians deceived St. Jerome, and Ruffinus. In the subscription, saith Athanasius, Liberius was innocent; the error was of human frailty only, and whatever it was, it was not his, but the Emperours. For the force then put upon him, did manifest his hate to heresy: his suffrage for Athanasius had he been free: and the violence of the Arians. And du●ing the time of banishment, to prevent any infamy the Arians might asperse him with: As to the Nicaene Faith, he composed a form of confession; That whoever did not confess the Son equal in substance with the Father, should be interdicted the church. And after exile, the same incomparable Liberius rejected the M●cedonians from his communion, because he heard they favoured the Arian heresy. And lastly, in an Epistle to Constantius, he concludes; I have added nothing to the Episcopacy of the Roman City, I have suffered nothing to be lost, but have kept the Faith which descended to me from my Fathers.  
This was that Liberius, famed over the whole Earth, for his care of the Nicaene Faith; for which, and other excellencies, St. Epiphanius names him a blessed Bishop of Rome. 
Si●icius E●●st. ad Hime●ium.  And Stricius, his next Successor, styles him, Venerandae memoriae p●edecessor meus; Lib●rius, a man venerable. A man so holy, that all Rome lamented his banishment, 
Socrat. Lib. 4. Cap. 11.  saith Socrates. And had mutiny'd against the Emperour; h d he not sent him timely home to Rome, saith Zoz●mene. 
Zozom. Lib. 4. Cap. 10. T●eodor. Lib. 2 cap 17. Nicepho● L●b. Cap. 37.  He was a most excellent Bishop, saith Theodoret. He was an exemplary man to all posterity, saith Nicephorus. He was a very holy man, of happy memory, 
St. Amoros Lib. 3. de Vi●gimbas. Pem●us est soror sancta b●arae memoriae Liberii praecepta revolvere ut quo Vir ●anctior eo Sermo accedat Gratior.  whose life was imitable saith St. Ambrose. He was so beloved of all, that the Matrons of Rome vowed to go after him into banishment, if he were not sent home to them again, saith Theodoret. In a word, he was before, in, and after his return from exile; Celeber in sanctis& magnus Liber●us. lo, this the Man, whom the Donatists of old, and our new Donatists of the Engl sh Clergy, name the heretic Liberius, whom all the Earth beside ever honoured as a Saint of God.  
And as the Donatists of old, so the English Clergy now, rej●ct the Doctrine of the Churches infallibility, because the Donatists, and the Arians, and the Millenarians, and other errors have overrun the Church of God in sundry ages.  
The Donatists indeed shook the Turrets of the Church of the South, saith Baronius, but not the Foundations of the Carholique Church. For Stephen, with most of the Western Bishops, and the whole Fast, except Cappadocia, were all at that time in catholic communion: only in Africa that heresy and schism was prevalent, which was called but Pars Domati then, and was but St. Augustines Frustum, compared with the catholics in the Roman communion.  
Neither did the Arians possess the whole World, but some part of the East, and very few in the West. The Nicane faith was even then Universal, when St, Jerome complained. Ingemi●it totus Orbis& Arianum se esse miratus est. 

St. Jerom: Liv. cont. Luc●f●ianos. De {αβγδ} nomi●e ve●o abiciiendo Verisimilis tatio probabatur q●ia in Scrip●uris alebant non invenitur& multos simpliciotes novitate sua scandalizet Placuit aufer●i.  
N●n erat curae Ep scopis de Vocabulo cum sensus esset in tuto. Tunc {αβγδ} nomen abolitum est tune Nicaeniae fidei damnatio conclamata est Ingemuit totus Orbis& Arianum se esse miratus est. Pe●iclitabatur Navicula Apostolorum. Urgebant Venti fluctubus Latera tundebantur nihil jam supererat spei. Dominus Excitatur, imperat tempestati Bestia moritur tranquillitas rediit.  
Episcopi Orientales in Ariminensii Consilio decepti erant ad tempus said& cito scipsos corrigebant& ante Correct●onem non in Haeresim said in fraudulentam fidei formulam obreptio cousensu inciderunt.  
Concurrebant Episcopi q●i Ariminensibus dol●s erant irretii contestantes Corpus Domini& quicquid in Ecclesia Sanctum erat se nihil mali in sua fide suspicatos putavimus aiebant sensum Congruere cum verbis. St. Ambros. Lib. 1. de side Cap. Ultima, Ad simplices decipiendos misero colore fraudis suae Impietatem obduxit.   For indeed it was but a Delusion, which that wicked Valens of Myrsa, and his Faction, had put upon the Eastern Bishops at Ariminum, when they requested, that the word {αβγδ} might be dispensed with, because it was a new word,( as Transubstantiation of late is) and became scandalous to the vulgar christians in the Fast. Whereupon the Bishops of the East, saith S. Jerome, stood not upon the formality of words, so the Nicaene sense were in all points observed.  
Upon this advantage, Valens, and the Arian Faction, instil d the Arian heresy, while the catholic Bishops were secure. The issue was, saith St. Jerome, the Ship of the Apostles was in a storm, the tempest high, all hope was almost lost, our Saviour awaked before the Ship perished, checked the tempest of the Arian heresy, the beast dyes, and a universal calm follows through the East, and the catholic Bishops return to their own places again.  
The Bishops, with great joy, at their return, protested the integrity of their Faith: that they were deluded by the Arimine frauds: that they ever held steadfastly the Nicaene Faith.  
Accordingly St. Ambrose declares, that this heresy did surpr●se great numbers, but of the weaker sort of christians only, who yet indeed were good christians, and did believe materially as the Nicaene Faith had taught them; excepting the Vocabulum of {αβγδ} only.  
And St. Augustine, when Vincentius the Donatist pressed this argument against the catholic Church, her Universality, and Infallibility; viz. That Ariani●me had once infected the whole world, he 
St, Aug. Ep. 48 con●. V●ncent. Donat. Quod in suis firmis eminebat, tunc Ecclesia de infirmis autem& seductis. Verum erat quod di●it Jeron. totus orbis ingemuit  ●eplies with St. Ambrose, that the Church was at that time eminent and visible in her catholic Bishops all the world over: 
St. August. Q●od factum est semini Abr●hae sicut stellae Coeli,& sicut arena quae est ad oram maris. Ut in stellis Coeli pauciotes, firmiores, clarioresque intell guntur. In arena autem maritini li●o●is multitudo infirmorum, atque carnalium quae fl●ctubus operitut atque tu●batur.  Great numbers of the Common people, like the Sand of the Sea, were indeed oppressed with the waves of that heresy: But the Bishops, who were the stars of the Church, stood firm as the stars in the Firmament. 
Tale tunc erat tempus de quo scripsit Hilarius.  This was that time, saith Saint Aug. of which Saint Hilary complained: and the same St: Augustine saith, that of the infirm or weak christians was it only true, that St. Jerome spake, Totus orbis ingemuit,& miratus est se factum Arianum. Wondered how they became Arians, 
St. August. Quis enim nescit illo tempore obscuris Verbis multos parvi sensus fuisse delusos ut putarent hoc ab Arianis credi quod ipsi crederent: Quamquam& illi qui firmissi ni fuerunt,& verba Haereticorum insidiosa intelligere potuerunt; said pauci quidem in comparatione caeterorum; said tamen etiam ipsi quidem fortiter pro side Exulabant, ac hc Ecclesia quae per omnes crescit in frumentis Dominicis conservata est.  who then believed the Nicaene Faith, although obscured by the subtlety of the Arian Bishops, such as was Valens and his faction in the East.  
This the whole story of that time, as it is related by St. Jerome and St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine, who gave this Answer to the Luciferans and Donatists, as we to the English Socinianized Divines now, viz. The Churches infallibility was not prejudiced at all, her faith stood fast upon the pillars of the Church, and the visibility of her Pastours all the world over then, as it doth at this day, in despite of the most inconsiderable Divines of the Reformation.  
Strange, very strange tis, that the Millenary opinion should lessen the Churches infallibility with wise men: which Doctrine was not taught universally, abinitio, as a Tradition of the Apostles. 

Greg. Nyssen. E●ist. ad Eustach●am& Amb●osiam interpret ●sa●co Casausbon. Num mill annorum ingurgitationem pollicemur Judaicam? Num victimarum mactationem rerum restitutum iti docemus? Num ad terrestrem Je●usalem spes hominum inclina●●us? St. Aug. Lib. 20. de Civit. Dei.  
Quae opinio utcunque etiam tolerabilis si al●quae delic●ae spirituales in illo Sabbatho affuturae fanctis per Dominum crederentur. St. Jerom. Lib. 3. in Math. Cap. 19 St. Chrysost. Tom. 5. Orat. 7 Just●n. in Dialogo. cum Tryphone.   For as Papias and Irenaeus taught it, so Di●nysius and Gregory Nyssen denied it to be Apostolical. It was at most but a permitted opinion, with liberty to all good christians, saith Justin Martyr, to believe of it what they p●eased. And was a tolerable Opinion, not a Tradition, saith St. Augustine, while it spake of a spiritual Paradise only: b●t afterwards, when it was taught sensually, by Apollinaris, the Cernithians, and Nepos, it was then opposed by St. Hierom, Damasus, Gregory Nyssen, and St. Chrysostome: And when John the 22d. would have imposed it on the Church for an ancient Tradition, he was prevented; and Benedict his Successor, and the Council of Florence defined it to have been a tolerated Opinion only, and no Apostolical Tradition. Thus the Church of God, by her spirit of infallibility, takes care that no Opinions be taught for Apostolical Doctrines, which are but the Traditions of Men.  
The custom of baptizing Infants doth not in the least prove against the Churches infallibility, which tollerates only that, and other customs in divers parts of the world, while they neither pretend to be Apostolical, nor are repugnant to any one Apostolical Tradition, as, this was not, in its first practise. The Custom was both in Greece and Africa, saith 
Aquin. p. 3. q. 80. A●t. 9.  Aquinas, to communicate immediately after Baptism: but not of necessity; because Confirmation being necessary to precede the Eucharist, as 
Cyprian. Ep. 70. ad Januarium. Ungi quoq●e necesse est eum qui Baptizatus est, po ro● autem Eucha●ista.  St. Cyprian tells us; and that Sacrament could not be given without a Bishop, and Bishops were not to be found in all places: It follows, that it could not be practised as a thing necessary to Salvation in any part of christendom. But 
D●o●●s Eccl s. Hierarch. Cap 2. Pontifex Divino ac Deifico protsus Unguento Virum signans Sacratissimae. Communionis participem facit.  St. Dyonis. and the first Christians had a persuasion that the Sacrament of the Eucharist was the consummation of all other Sacraments, therefore 
St. Dyonis. N●llum fear Sacramentum Hierarchii ordinis sine Div●na Eucharistia pe sicitur. St. D. E●d. Hier. cap. 3. N q●e enim ferme fas est S●cerdoratis maneris myst●rum aliquod pe●ag● nisi Divinum illud Eu●●aristiae Augustissim●mq●e Sacram●ntum com●leat. council. L. ●●c. Can. 7. Inun●tos eriam san●to chrisma●● Divino S cramento co●man care conve●it.  St. Dyonis. saith it is almost unlawful to give any Sacrament, unless it receive its perfection from the Sacrament of the Eucharist, so that in the primitive times it was not practised as a Tradition necessary to Salvation, bu● as very useful, in the opinions of St. Dyo●●s. and ancients; for both the Greek and Latin Chu●ches ever taught with one consent, that Bapt sm alone was sufficient to Salvation. So 
St. Basil. Qui mo●●uus est( 〈◇〉) B●p●izatus ab omni peccato repu●gatus est. Homil. 13. Baptismus est peccati mots. Animi regeneratio vehiculum ad Coelum Regni coelestis concil●atio Adoptionis gradus. council. Eliber. Can. 77. council. F●orent.  St. B●si and ( f) the Eliberine Council, and St. Jerome, and the valentine Council of the G●eek& latin Fathers, and so St. Augustine taught in 600 places with this confidence.  
H●c fides Catholica novit, 

Ep. 106. Nullu● q●i●se meminit Cath li●ae fidei Christianum negat aut dubitat parvulos non accepta Gratia Regenerationis in Christo sine cibo carnis& sanguinis potu habere in se vitam ac per hoc pae●ae aeternae obnoxios.  
Lib. 2 de Trinitate Cap. 24. Unde nisi ex ant qua ut &c. Existimo& Apostolica Traditione qua Ecclesiae Christi insitum tenet preter. Baptismum& participationem Dominicae mensae non ad Regnum Dei said nec ad salutem●a ternam posse quamquam hominum prevenire hoc enim Scriptura testatur, Aug. Lib. 2. de Peccatorum ment●s& Remiss. Lib. 1   This the catholic Church knows, that Baptism alone is sufficient to salvation.  
And whereas St. Cyprian in Ep. 107. and Innocent, and St. 
Pradestin Sanctorum. Regenerationem haberi per Baptismum. P●trus Chrysologus Serm. 137. St. Hieron. in Dlalogo adversus Luciferimos. Si ad Episcopi tantum Imprecationem Spiritu Sanctus defluit nempe in Confirmatione q●ae ab Episco●s ●olis fieri solebat Lugendi sunt qui in Vinculis aut in Castellis aut in Remotioribus loc●s per Praesbytires& Diaconos Baptizati ante dormierunt quam ab Episcopis inviserentur. 〈◇〉 St. Prosper Sentent 34. Per Sacramentum Sanguinis Christi intelligi Christi Passionem quam●unusquisque participat qui per Dei Gratiam Regenetatur. Tulgentius de side ad Petrum. Firmissime rene& nullatenus dubites Parvulis qui●nec propria voluntata credere ne● poenitentiam pro peccato quod originalitur trahunt agere possunt Sacramentum fidei quod est Sauctum Baptisma quandiutorum aetas Rationis Capax esse non potest sufficere ad salutem. Tuamensis Tract. de Statu Parvulorum cap. 23. Vita non habetur sine Manducatione corporis Christi. Ac soeietate membrorum ejus qua acq●iritur per Baptismum Christum quam isti sancti( Ut colligitur ex Aug. Lib. 21. de Civit. Dei Cap. 25. & Tract. in Johan.& ex Innocent. in Ep. ad Patres council. Millevit.) Intelligunt per illam ad vitam aeternau● habendam. Hugo de Sacram. Lib. 2. Cap. 20. Nulli est aliquatenus imbigendum tunc unum quemque fidelium corporis sanguinis queen Domini participem fieri quando ● Baptismo membrum corpotis Christi efficitur.  Augustine mention a necessity to give the Eucharist to Infants, in his 106. Epistle upon John the 6th. Four famous Disciples of St. Augustine, viz. St. Prosper, St. Hugo, St. Fulgentius, and Tuamensis, expound him thus: That eternal life cannot be had, unless they eat the body, and drink the blood of Christ, and be incorporated into Christ, all which is effected by Baptism alone into the name of Christ.  
This is the sense of St. Augustine, as to the necessity of being incorporated into Christ: So that, First, This custom of communicating Infants, was never universal. Secondly, It was in no age judged absolutely necessary to salvation by any one Father. Thirdly, It was not certainly a tradition of any one of the Apostles, much less of all. And therefore not to be numbered inter traditions Apostolicas, but inter agibilii hujus aut illius loci, St. August. Ep. 118. Of which custom, and of divers others, there hath been always a large permission in the church of God, till those practices by some emergent circumstance or pretention to universality of time and place which they had not, awakened the Church of God, from the first Council of Nice, to the last at Trent, to determine what customs and traditions are Apostolical, what not.  
Pass we on to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, which, if its age be measured by the Word, is but as old as the Lateran Council: if from the reality of the Doctrine, is from Christ and his Apostles. For, as the Doctrine of the equality of the Son with the Father, was in substance taught from the beginning, although the Vocabulum, {αβγδ} was not in use till 3. ages after the Apostles; so is it in the Doctrine of the real presence, in which the conversion of the substances of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, was believed from the beginning, but the word Transubstantiation was not in use till the Lateran Council, to prevent the Berengarian heresy in that mystery for ever. Venerable Bede taught the same Doctrine in substance which the Lateran Council taught 5 ages before, viz. 
B de i● Lib. Po●t. de Tr●itate. P●n's sit C●●us Ch ●ti ●●●si●eum substan●● pa●●s in Corp●s Christ.  The bread is made the body of Christ; for the substance of bread passeth into the body of our Lord. In the same words and sense taught St. 
St. B●rnard Serm. de C na Domini. Hostra quam vides Jam non est panis said caro mea quae pependit in ●ruce; similiter l quor iste quem vides jam non est vinu●ised sanguis meus quem pro te sudi in pretium.  Bernard, and St, 
Alex. St. Cyril Ep. ad Calcsyrum. Influis oblatis vim vitae convertens ea in Veritatem propriae carnis. St. Chrysost, Qui ve●o haec sanctificat transmutat. St. Greg. Nyssen. Dei Verbo Sanctificatum panem in Dei Verbo Corpus credo transmutaritrans elementata eorum quae apparent natura●● St. Cyril Cateches 13. Mystagogiva panis Eucharistiae post Spiritus Sancti Invedationem non est amplius panis communis said Corpus Christi. Cyril. Aquam aliquando mutavit in Vinum in Caena Gallieae& non credemus dicenti quod Vinum in Sang●inem transmutasset. St. Ambrose Lib. 4 de sacrament. Panis iste panis est ante verba Sacramentorum ubi accesserit Consecratio de pane fit caro Christi. Cap. 4. Non erat Corpus Christi ante Consecrationem said post Consecrationem, dico quod jam est Corpus Christi ergo didic●sti quod ex pan● fit Corpus Christi. E● q●od Vinum& aqua in calicem mittitur said sit Sanguis Consecratione verbi Caelestis. Cap. 5. Antequam consecretur panis est ubi autem verba Christi accesserint Corpus est Christi accipite& edite ●x●eo omnes hoc ●est Corpus meum. St. Cyprian de Caena D●mini. Panis ist● quem Dominus Discipulis portigebat non essigie said natura mutatus omnipotentia ve●bi factus est caro. St. Jerome 150. ad Hedibiam nes audiamus. Panem quem fregit Dominus deditque Discipulis esse Corp●s D●mini salvatoris. St. Aug. ad Psal. 33. Concione. Ferebatur Christus in manibus suis& quando commendans ipsum Corpus suum ait. H●c est Corpus meum ferebat enim illud in manibus suis. Lib. S●ntent. Prosperi. Ante Consecrationem Panem& Vinum quod natura formavit p●st Consecrationem vero carnem& ●anguinem Christi.  Cyril of Alexandria, St. Augustine, St. Chrysostome, St. Jerome, St. Optatus, St. Ambrose, St. Cyprian, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nyssen, St. Iraeneus, St. Justin, who learned it of the Apostles, who taught it even in their own Liturgies. The Liturgy of St. Peter thus, O Lord, look upon us, and upon this bread, and this cup, and make it thy immaculate body, and thy precious blood. So the Liturgy of St. James, We pray, that thy holy Spirit, with his holy, good, and glorious presence, sanct●fie, and make this bread the holy body of Christ, and this cup the precious blood of Christ. So taught all the ancient Liturgies after the Apostles. Lastly, so taught Christ himself: Take, eat, this is my body. Upon which words, saith St Cyril, doubt not at all, when the Saviour of the world speaks, This is my body, but believe him. Dispute not the Mystery, saith St. Ambrose, before the words of consecration, it is bread, after consecration, De pane fit caro Christi, the bread is converted into the flesh of Christ. What is all this but Transubstantiation.  
Also the Doctrine is collected from another passage of our Saviour, Mat. 26.29. Mark 14.25. 
Origen ●. Levit. hom. 7 St. hilary in Mat. Nazienz. in Pa●cha Hierom. ad Hedibiam. Intelligit sanguinem vitis Verae quem Christus nobiscum bibit in Regno Ecciesiae. Eucher quaest. in Mathaeum: Regnum Dei Ecclesia est, in quo quotidie bibit sanguinem suum Christus per sanctos suos tanquam caput in membris suis.  This is my Blood of the New Testament, which is  shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine until that day I drink it new in my Fathers Kingdom. Which words Origen, St. Hilary, and Greg. Nazianz expound as an Allegory of the new Doctrine we shall be taught by the Vision of God: But St. Jerome understands by it, the Blood of Christ the true Vine, which he will drink with us in the Kingdom of his Church: And after him Eucherius thus. The Kingdom of God is the Church, in which Christ daily drinks his own blood by his Saints, as the head in his Members.  
I add a third Gloss of our incomparable Sir Thomas Moore, who from the 22 of Saint Luke, verse 15, 16, 17, 19. observes upon these words, I will drink no more of the fruit of the Vine, &c. that they were spoken as relating to the Passover, v. 17, 18. before those words of Consecration, This is my Body, v. 19. and this is my Blood, v. 20. Now if our Blessed Saviour, as he did carry himself in his own hands, saith St. Augustine, So also did Praegustare quo suos induceret ad manducandum, ne mysterii magnitudine deterriti abstinerent: as St. Chrysostome saith he did, Taste and Drink what he gave after Consecration, to his Disciples: It could not then be Wine of which he said he would drink no more till he drank it new in his Fathers Kingdom, but must be the Element of Wine converted into his Blood.  
Thus is the Doctrine of the Conversion of the Substances of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, that is Transubstantiation, Evidenced from the Evangelists, and most clearly from St. Luke, that is, from the Beginning.  
Fourthly, tis true the Roman Church doth withhold the Cup of Blessing from the Laity which practise she derived from Christ and the Apostles, and the primitive ages; when more usually it was given in both kinds to the Laity; but not universally, nor ex Necessitate Praecepti, at any time. If Infants received it universally almost 600 years,( as mistaken Maldonates saith) in one kind only: it was then thought in all those ages a go●d Sacrament according to Christs institution. 
Arcadius de Sacramentis.  Also, when it was given to men of riper age in Tertullians and St. Cyprians time, 

St. Cyprian in Lib. de Lapsis.  
St. Basil. Epist. 289 Ad Caesarcam Patriciam Alexandriae autem& per Aegyptum unusquisque etiam de plebe ut plutinum Domi suae habet communionem.  
Hypatius. In suae fidei professione. Fateor sub altera tanrum specie totum atque in●egrum Christum verunque Sacramentum sumi.   and in St. Basils time, in the times of Persecution throughout Alexandria, and Egypt, in in all ages to all sorts of persons, it was then reputed an effective Sacrament in one kind only, as well as in both, all the Christian world over; both by the Greek Church( as Genebrard) and by the Muscovites, as Latiscius, and by the Ruthers as Hypatius; all which Churches held communion in one kind sufficient for Salvation.  
If so, then, the necessity of administering in both was not by the command of Christ, when the substance of the Sacrament,& the end thereof, were preserved in either kind. To confirm which tradition, our Saviour himself, after his Resurrection, gave it in one kind only. To the Disciples going to Emaius, luke. 24.30. when he took Bread and broke it, and their Eyes were opened, which the Devil had shut, Usque ad Sacramentum Panis saith St. Augustine, 

St. Aug. de Consus Evangelist. lib. 3. cap. 25.  
Hesych. Lib. 2. i●… Liviticum, Cap. 9.  
Beda ad 24. Cap Lucae.  
Se. Chrysost: Homil 16. Operis imperfecti in Mathaum.   what he gave then to the Disciples was both Sanctificatum, and Sanctificatio, saith St. Chrysost. Hesychius of Jerusalem names that Bread Mystica Caena: Venerable Bede saith, Christ gave then his Body to his Disciples. Nor was it a wonder saith Theophilact that their Eyes were opened, for it was the powerful flesh of Christ that did it. And the Syriack Text doth not red it, their eyes were opened in breaking of Bread, but in fractione Eucharistiae. Here our Saviour himself in the Judgement of the Fathers instituted the Communion in one kind, as before his Resurrection he had instituted it in both, to leave an Example in the Church of God to communicate in one or both kinds, as the Spirit of God sha l guide his Church in the Administration of the Sacrament.  
To conclude, The sacrifice cannot be perfect, unless it be administered in both kinds by the Priest, as it was figured in Melchisedechs Oblation of bread and wine; That done, neither Christ, nor his Apostles, nor a universal custom in the church of God, obliged christians to communicate in both kinds. From the beginning, to the Council of Constance, Basil, and Trent, which decreed the practise of communicating in one kind, against the heresy of the Hussites and Reformists; unless in cases reserved to the Bishop of Rome. Sess. 22. Trident. council.  
Fifthly, The Church of Rome doth at this day red the Scriptures in the common tongue of all Nations, not in the vulgar tongue of any Nation, because from the Beginning it was so: That, as the sound of her Faith, so also the sound of her Scriptures may be the same all the world over. Why is she then blasphemed by a thing that talks all alone in a Pulpit, when in this pr●ct●ce she is justified by the wisdom both of the Jews and Christians?  
The Scriptures were red in the Hebrew tongue weekly to the people, when not in the Hebrew, after 70 years captivity, bu● the Cha●daick or the Syriack tongue was the vulgar tongue. Yet ever since, even to this day, both in the Temple and Synagogues, the Law was, and is red in the Hebrew tongue only. And because the Law was red in a language which they u●derstood not after the captivity, ●ehemias, and Estras, and the Levites, in●erpreted the Law to all the people, at which the whole people rejoiced, Es●●as 2.8.  
M●reover, throughout the East, in S●. Jeromes time, no edition of the Old ●estament was used, but the Greek Septuagint; as it was corrected by Origen, Lucian, and Hesichius. That is, from Constantin●ple to Antioch the edition of ●ucian was in public use: From Antioch to egypt, that is throughout Syria, the edition of Origen: And throughout egypt the edition of Hesichius. Thus one language served all the East, although the vulgar tongues were as divers as the many Countries, of which we red Act. the 2d. That those of P●ntus, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, Phrygia, and Pamphilia, the Countries between Constantinople and Antioch, were all of divers languages, and understood not one another: and yet in the public service in the Churches, no edition but that of the Greek S●ptuagint, corrected by St. Lucian, was used throughout all those Countries.  
Secondly, The Apostles, although they had the gift of tongues, yet wrote not one book in any language, but either Hebrew, or Greek, or latin: Neither in Irenaeus his dayes, 
iron. L●b. 1. Cap. ●.  who lived near the Apostles, was one Gospel found in any other language in the Churches of the East, in Lybia, egypt, Spain, Germany, Italy or France; all which Countries had their several mother or vulgar tongues. St. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans in Greek, yet that was not their vulgar tongue. St Peter, and St. Ja●●s wrote their Epistles in Greek to the dispersed J●ws, and yet that was not their vulgar tongue. 
St. Higgin, E●ist. 1.  Act. 2. 
St. Aug. L●b. 2. Quaest. Evangel.  St John wrote his Epistle to the Parthians in Greek also, yet that was not their tongue. Afterward the latin tongue being the common tongue of the Empire in the West, all Italy over, France, Spain, and Africa, the Scriptures were red, with the Office of the Church, in that tongue only.  
The Scriptures, and Divine Office, were never red in the Carthaginian tongue, but in the latin, which was not the usual tongue in Africa, 
St. Aug. L●b. 2. de D●ct. Christian●. Cap. 13. E● Expos. in Romanos.  saith St. Augusti●e.  
The Scriptures were red in the latin tongue in Spain 1100 years agone, 
St. Hi●ron. Praesat. in Lib. 2. ad Ga●atas. Isid●●e L b. 2. de Divinis Officus. council. Tolet. 4. Cap. 2.  saith Isidore, and the fourth Toletane Council, which was not their proper tongue, saith St. J●rome.  
Amalarius of Triers, who lived about 800 and 40 years ago, 
Al●●nus Altui●us Lib and D●vin●s Officus.  saith, that in all France, the Office of the Church and Scriptures were red in the latin tongue; 
St. H●eron Pr●f●t. ad L b. 2. in Epist. ad Galata.  whereas both the French and galls had other vulgar languages, saith St. Jerome, on Vita Hilari●nis.  
In Germany the public reading of the Scriptures was in the latin tongue only; 
R ban Lib. 2. Inst●t. Chric. Cap. 9. Iste est Catholic●s ordo Divinatum C●l●brationum qui ab Universa Ecclesia inc●mmutabiliter serve●ur.  so Rabanus the learned Bishop of Mentz tells us, that 700 years agone, it was the custom throughout all the West, nay throughout all the World, and was to be kept inviolably, to red the Scriptures in the common tongue of Nations for ever.  

G●eg. 7. Lib. 7. Ep. ad Ducem B●h●morum. Radevic●s ●ib. 2. de Gest●s F●ederici.  In Bohemia, the Scriptures, with the Office or Liturgies, were red in the latin tongue only, not in the Sclavonian tongue.  
The Roman Office, in substance the same with that which St. Peter left there, 
Thom. Aquinas in Comment Cap. 14 1 ad Corinth●os.  saith Isidore. i. e. from the Beginning, was in latin to this day; and yet that language ceased to be the vulgar tongue of Italy 1100 years since.  

Bede Lib. 1. Hist. Anglic. Cap 1. Thom. Waldensis. Tom. 3. de Sacram. Ti●ul. 3& 4.  Lastly, To come home to a most infatuated Clergy, there were in England, saith Venerable Bede, 4 vulgar tongues, yet they used the latin for their Scriptures, which was therefore a tongue common to them all.  
We deny not, but that the translation of the Scriptures may be into every Nations language, for private use, 
Thedoret in Lib. 1. Regum. Quaest. 1. Fecit obscuritatem in Scriptura, mutatio ex alia Lingua in ia aliam. Et quod studuerint interpretes pressis insistentes rest ●is de verbo in ve●bum interpretati.  so as such copies be never held as authentic Scripture: the reason Theodoret gave long ago, because no translation can be adequate to the primitive tongues, but must be defective, bo●h from the idiom, and mutability, that is, and will be in all vulgar languages for ever.   

catholics prohibit not their Laity the Scriptures in their mother tongue, only, because they find, that in St. Peters dayes, the unlearned and unstable had wrested some of St. Pauls Epistles to their own destruction, 1 Pet. 1.18. Therefore they advice, that the Scriptures be ever red with humility and subj●ction to the Church of Christ: for that the Scriptures are a light shining in a dark place, Pet. 1.1.19. And are in St. Dyonises phrase, Perlucida& liquidis●ima caligo. For which reason, it was a tradition among the Jews, that none might red divers books of their Law, until the age of 30 years, 
Hier m. in proaemio 〈◇〉 Ez●ch●el. ●●●●i●●o Judaeo um est nisi q●is apud ●os ae●at●●●●c●d●●●li Ministe●ii, i.e. Trigesimum annum impleverit, nec prinicpium Genese●s nec canticum can●●orum nec h●j s voluminis principiam& finem legere p●im●titur. St. Greg N●zianz. opat. S●u Ap●log. H●b eorum ●●p●ente● h●nc olim legem Hebrae●●uist● na●rant. Inprimis rectam& l●●de d●g●n●n q●● non ●u●●is aetati quivi● Libe● Scripturae conceditur ne ob externa● speciem Imperatoribus pl●r●m●● d●t●●men●i affe●ti posset.  i.e. the age of Priesthood, saith St. Jerome. Which custom, St. Gregory Nazianz. commends as one of the best, to all christians, lest the unlearned perish in reading the mysterious books of the Old and New Testament. For there was a Veil cast over the face of Moses, that is the Law; 
St. Jer●n. Ep. Paulinum Ep 3 H●c a●●e. V●lamen non solum in faci Mos●s said& in Evangelis●●s& apostles pos●●um est.  and there is another Veil cast over the Ev●ngelists and Apostles writings, saith St. Jerome: The first Veil was taken away by Christ, and the latter is taken away by his Church, the only expositor of the divine books. Fo● no Scripture is of private interpretation, 1 Pet. 1.20. It then, as the Eu such did, ye red in the Prophet Esay, or any other book which ye cannot understand, ye call Philip in o ●he chariot, that is, the Church of Christ, to expound all the fundamental concernments of your salvation, ye shall do well, in the frequent reading of the holy Scripture, and let that catholic be accursed that teacheth otherwise. For we honour the Scriptures, with St. Chrysostom, as the Treasu●ies of our Faith. We esteem them, with St. Basil, to be as the Sun in the Firmament of Gods Church. They are with us, St. Dyo●ises due of Heaven, St. Gregories Epistle of God to his creature Man, In sum, they are the Word of God; nay, we say more, with St. Ignatius, they are the Flesh of Christ. And therefore they are not to be handled by every one, 
St. Chrysostom. ●omil. 40. in Joh. Christus Judaeo. ad Scripturatum non simplicem& nudam lect●onem said ad investigationem per quam diligenter relegavit. Non enim dixit Leg●te Scripturas said scrutamini D●vina enim summa indigent diligentia.  but such as can search the Scriptures, saith St. Chrysostome: Or at least, if they be red, we must ask our Fathers, as the Israelites did of their Manna, Quid est hoc? These Scriptures are our spiritual Manna, saith St. Jerome, and if we take of this Manna more than Moses, than the Church apportions to every capacity it will breed worms, and stink, i.e. it will breed heresies in the brains of the people. And as the Israelites died with Manna in their mouths, the food of Angels, so may ye perish for ever with your mouths full of holy Scripture.  
And we not only restrain our Laity from over-curious prying into this Ark, but our Clergy also; that Rule of St. Peter is their Law, No Scripture is of private interpretation. Not the learnedst Clerk among catholics, may search there for a Faith, or a Fundamental of his own finding. Non sufficeret ad fidem singularitas instrumenti, saith Tertullian, Destituta patrocinio antecossorum. The Bible alone is no Judge, is no safe Rule of any mans Faith, without the Traditions of the Apostles Successors, and our predecessors, in the Church of God.  
red them all may that can with these Rules, The first is of St. Athanasius, and St. Basil: 

St. Athanas. De Verbi hic ●nati ne ad Scripturatum indag nem verunque int●llectum opus est vita proba animo pu●o& Vi●tute q●ae secundum Christum est.  
St. Basil Proaemium in Es●●am. Denique accedit huc quod vitae quoque puritas r●quiritur ut ad moralis Virtut●s Exercitationem pertineat quod non sacris scriptures obvodutum est dijudicare.  
St. Iraeneus. scripture quidem perfectae said nos minores ac novissimi a Verbo Dei& ejus Spiritu. Quaedam quidem absolvamus secundum Gratiam Dei. Q●aedam autem com●endemus Deo& non solum in hoc saeculo said& in futuro; ut semper quidem Deus doceat homo autem semper discat q●ae   That who reads there, must first be a person of holy life, and pure mind before God.  
Secondly, The learned and unlearned must both depend upon the conduct and authority of Ecclesiastical expositors.  
Lastly, All sorts of people must red the Scriptures with St. Iraeneu● his humility: confessing, Scripturae quidem perfectae, said nos minores: And so commend all the sacred books to the Church: and the Church itself, saith Iraeneus, must resign back a great part of the Sacred Volumes, as Books that cannot be understood here on Earth, to God that gave them, to be revealed to us, as he pleaseth in the next world.  
S●xthly, That Liturgies or public Prayers be red in the common tongue of the world; Greek or Latin, Origen saith, was the custom from the Beginning, and in no language else. And most proper it was, that the primitive and catholic Liturgies were red in the primitive and catholic tongues all the Converted world over: Praye●s and Liturgies have been also in the chaldaic, or Sy●ian and Arabian tongues( not the vulgar Arabian) because those three were common, and almost universal tongues in the East; for the Litu●gies ever follow the universality of the tongue: yet this custom or practise being not Jure Divino, bu Ec●l●siastica, some Nations, as Moravia, &c may obtain of the Chu●ches pastor, that the Liturgy may b● red in the Vulgar tongue, for some reasons, a●d ot●ers may not, as the Bohemians did not from G●g. 7th. But consult all Histories, all Historians East and West, from Isidore, Alcuin, Amalarius, R●●●●ns, Araba, Micro●ogus, Rupertus, to Thomas Wald●rsis de o●ficiis, and you shal● find they had no such custom, nor the Churches of God; to red their Litu●gies in the Vulgar tongue of any Nation, it being morally impossible, that the offices of the Church should be in any other language, when the Scriptures from whence all Liturgies are taken, were neither in Italy, nor Spain, nor Africa, nor France, nor Germany, nor England, extant in any language but Hebrew, Greek and latin, for many hundred years after their conversion to the Faith,  
Neither is it all scandalously opposite to the plain sense of Scripture in the 1 Corinth. cap. 14, 13 and 17 verses; for that Chapter speaks not of the reading of Scriptures, or public Offices or Liturgies, but of spiritual Conferences and Exhortations to the people which the Christians in the primitive times were wont to use, 

Indicat. Justin Martin. in F●ne 1. Apolo●. 2. Quod conveni● ban● Christiani diebus Domin●c& primum Legebantur S●ri●tu●ae de ind fi●bat concio a antistit postren●o inter said de rebu Divinis Sermone mi●cebant. bellarm. St. Cypr. Ep. a Pompeium.& E● ad Quo●●●um.  
Aug L●b. 2. de Baptismo contra D●nat. St. ●asil. Quast. 27 Am●ros. S aulius. Theodoret& Occumin Cap. 14. Corinth.   saith Justin Martin after the Reading of Scr●ptures and their Li urgies.  
Now it seems the Apostle observed an ill custom in those that had the gift of prophesying, and Tongues; That they took overmuch delight in showing their eminent gift to the people who understood them not, and could neither to their Exhortations, nor their Hymns, nor their Prayers, say Am●n.  
This Exposition, whether you like it or no, ye may find in St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, St. Basil, Sedulius, St. Chrysostom, and Theodoret. And to demonstrate it must be so, All Antiquity knows with Origen, that in Corinth and all the East, at times the Scripture and Offices were red in the Greek tongue only, that being the common tongue of the East; In fine take away this Principle in the Church of God, by whose wisdom it was so ordered from the Beginning, for the Unity of the Faith of Christendom, and you forthwith take away the use of General Councils for ever; forasmuch as an ecumenical council would be a Babel, a confusion of Languages, nor would they be able, for want of such a common tongue, in which Scriptures and Liturgies are red all the world over, ever to understand one another, nor be able to debate what is an Apostolical, a catholic Tradition of Scripture, or practise; or ever state an Explication of it any more. This is the prime Reason of many, why scriptures and Liturgies are red in all Churches in the common tongue of the whole world, 

P. 13. P. 8. 1 Kings 2.6. Tobiae 4.18. Z●ch. 9 11. ● Malach. 12 39. Math. 5.26. Math. 12.31. 1 Corinth 3.12. Philip. 2.10.  
Litu●g. Jacobi F●c Domine ut Ob●atio nostra sit gra●a &c.— in Propi iatione Peccato●um nostrorum& in ●e●uiem animatu● e●rum qui ante nos obdormierunt.  
Litu●g. St P tri. Memento D●●ine, &c.— Ipsis D●mi●… e& omn bus Chri●… to qu●●scen●ibus lo●… um refrigeri●& P●●… is indulgeas depte●amur.  
●… iturg. Eccle. Alex●… d. Animabus p●… um& fratium no●… rorum qui ante in Christi fide ob●or●ierunt dona requi●… m Domine Deu●… oster.   and not in the vulgar tongue of any Nation.  
To speak of other matters, w●uld be to exceed the limits of a Sermon, otherwise I could satisfy any man th●t durst hazard his concernments here on Earth for Heaven. That Purgatory was a Doctrine taught from the Beginning, all the world over, by Jew, and gentle, and Christian. The Scriptures teach it, the Apostles taught it, and all the world believed and practised it. And all the Christian Liturgies are full of it. Remember thy servants, O Lord, wh● are departed, and give them a place of rest and peace, so the Roman Liturgy written by St. Peter. Let our Oblations prevail for the sins of the living and the d ad, so the Liturgy of Jerusalem, made by St. James the Apostle. Give the deceas●d souls rest, O Lord, in thy eternal tabernacles, so St. Marks Liturgy used in Alexandria. The Aethiopian Liturgy, composed by St. matthew. The Liturgy used in milan, made by St. Barnabas, 

Liturg. Syria. St. Basil. Meminerit Deus o●n si qui tramsierunt ex hoc mundo; ●ecreet eos in tabernaculo su●, traducat per mansions horrid●s.& tabernaculis luculentis collocet, eruat ex densis●i●is tenebris. Tribulatione& dollar ne intret cum iis in juditium; si quid ut homines in ca●●e vestiti peccaverint iis remit●at.  
L●b. 8. Apost. Constitit. 41. Oremus pro fratribus nostris qui in Ch●isto obdormie unt ut D●us sum●ae e●ga hom●nes Charitatis q●i animam defuncti suscepit; rem●ttat ei omne peccatum vol●ntarium& involuntarium, &c  
St. D●onys. Eccl s. Histor. Cap 7. Ep. 2.& 3 Post a●●cedent venerab●l s p aesul p●eccm supper defuncto sa●ratissi●am perag●t. Postea precauit orati● illa divinam clementia● ut cuncta ●i ●ittat peccata per infi●mitatem humana● comm●sla, cumque in luke st●tuit& reg●one vivorum.  
St. Clem. Ep. 1 Quotidiana p●aedicatio haec erat. Deum orare; pauperes ●●creare, infirmos visitate mortuos sepel●re, diligenter eorum exequi●s peragere, pr●que islora●e& elce●●●. synas dare,   afterwards augmented by St. Ambrose. The Liturgy of St. Basil, used in Syria and Cappadocia. The Liturgy of Constantinople, made by St. Andrew, and St. Chrysostom. The Liturgy of Spain, used by Isidore. The Liturgy of the G●ths, and of the Armenians. All of them prayed for rest to the Deceased; and some of them expressed what kind of rest, viz. A deliver●ce from a place of horror, and darkness, and affliction, and pain; and that they may be placed in the eternal tabernacles of light, so St. Basil.  
And lest a Reformed Divine should evade, by saying, these Liturgies, 400 years after the Apostles received augmentation by the Fathers, so that they prove not such a practise fr●m the Beginning Clemens Romanus saith. this was the sum of St. Peters Sermon or Exhortation to all Christians: To pray to God, to visit the sick, to relieve the poor, to bury the dead, to pray for them, and to give alms for the dead. Lastly,  
The Constitutions of the Apostles declare it a custom from the Beginning, in this Prayer Let us pray for those that are in Christ, that God would receive the souls of the departed, and pardon them all sins, and place them in the region of the just, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. St. Dyonise also sets down that custom above an age before Origen; The Priest prayeth that the divine clemency of God would remit to the deceased all his sins of infirmity, and place him in the region of the just, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in a place where no pain, no sorrow, no mourning, shall be for ever.  
The Doctrine of Invocation of Saints, is very ancient all the world over, 

St. August. Serm. de Sa ctis 11. O Beata Maria culpas nostras o●ando excusa admit nostras pre●●es intra Sacra●ium e●auditionis accipe q●od oste●imus, ●eqona qu●d rogamus, excusa q●●d timemus quia tu es spes unica peccatorum per te speramus veniam delictorum,& in te Beatissima nostrorum expectatio est p●aemiorum.  
Sancta Ma●ia succ●rre miseris juva pusillanimes, re●ove slebiles, ora pro popule; Intercede pro devoto saeminaeo s●xu, sentiant omnes tuum juvamen qui cunque celebrant tuam Commemorationem. Sint tibi studi● assidue orare pro populo Dei quae meruisti benedicta Redemptorem far mundi qui vivit& regnat in saeculo saeculorum.  
Sancta& Immaculata Virgo Dei Genetrix Maria,& matter Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Intervenite digneris pro me apud illum cujus meruisti effici templum. Sanct. Michael, Sanct. Gabriel, Sanct. Raphael, Sanct. Chori Angelorum, Archangelorum, Patriarcharum atque Prophetarum, Apostolorum, Evangelistarum, Martyrum, Confelloium, Sacerdotum, Levitarum, Monachorum, Virginium omniumque justorum illum qui vos eligit,& de cujus ●ontemplatione gaudetis V●s rogare pr● sumo ut p●●me culpabili●●psi Deo supplicare dignemini qua●●●●s de saucibus Diaboli▪& de morte perpetua metear liberati. Tom. 9. ●ib. Meditat. Cap. 40.   down to St. Augustines dayes, who prayed to Saints himself, not as Gods, but as the favourites of God, and friends of men. He prayed to the blessed Virgin in these words; O Blessed Mary, Excuse our faults by they prayers for us. Holy Mary, Help the distressed, assist the weak, comfort the sorrowful, pray for the people, intercede for the Clergy, and for all women kind; let it be thy care always to pray for the people of God. And that famous prayer of his in his Meditations; Holy and Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, and Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ Vouchsafe to intercede for me, with him whose Temple thou deservedst to be. St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. R●phael, all the holy Company of Angells, Archangells, Patriarcks, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Con●●ss●rs, Priests, Levites, Monks, all righteous Virgins, by him who hath chosen you, and whose blessed vision ye enjoy, I presume to beseech you, that you would vouchsafe to pray to God for me, that I may deserve to be delivered from the jaws of the Devil, and from everlasting death.  
Come we nearer our Text, to the Point of Clergy Marriage, which was prohibited to men in Orders even from the Beginning, long before Calixtus his time. It was one of the Constitutions of the Apostles, in these words; 

Constit. Apost. 8. {αβγδ}.  
Canon. 27 Ex his qui caelibes ad Clerum pervenerunt jubentus ut Lectores tantum& Cantores( si velint) nuptias contrahant.  
Can. 6. apostle.  
Episcopus aut Praesbyter uxorem propriam praetextu Religionis non abjiciat.  
Can. 48. Trullan. Episcopi uxor debet in Monasterio aliq●o degere& providentia Episcopi sui frui.  
Hubertus Cardin●lis ●ont. Nicetam. Non abj●ciant Clerici a cura sua ux●res. Et si reliquerint quoad torum.  
council. Neocaesar. Paesbyter si uxorem duxerit Ordine suo mov●atur.  
council. Ancyra. Can. 9. council. C●r●b●g. secundum Pa●i●●tius. Bonum sibi videri ut secundum antiq●os Canones pro●●beatur Cl●ric s ne post Ordinationem ullo modo uxores ducant said ●●lum pe●mittan●ur ●i ill●s q●as ante O dinationem acceperunt.  
St. H●eron Lib 1. Adverti●s Joviniarum. Ecce reliqui●●s omnia.   It is no more lawful to mary after Orders taken. It was also decreed in the 27th. Canon of the Apostles; That of those who came unmarried to the Clergy, only Readers and Cantors might contract marriage. And whereas it is said in the 6th. Canon of the Apostles; No Bishop may reject his Wife upon pretence of his Vow or Function, that is, he must not cast her away from his care, but from his bed only, providing for her in some Monastery, as your own dear Council held in Trullo expounds that canon, No Council, either General or Provincial, but decreed against marriage of the Clergy after Orders. The Council of Nice, in the third Canon, decreed, That no man in Orders should be allowed the society of any Woman, but a Mother, or an Aunt, or a Grandmother, &c. And the 78th. Canon in the arabic Code, decreed, That if any Priest married after Orders taken, he stand excommunicated 3 years. A Praesbyter that married was degraded by the first Council of Neocaesarea. Not so much as a Deacon may mary after Orders, so decreed by the 9th. canon of the Council at Ancyra, the third age after the Apostles. The second Council of Carthage decreed the same, and adds withall the reason, because it was so from the Beginning, Apostoli docuerunt servavit antiquitas,& nos custodiamus. And your own dear Council at Trullo, in the 6th, and 48th, canons decreed, That after Ordination, no Bishop, no Presbyter, no Deacon, no Sub-Deacon, presume to engage in Matrimony for ever.  
Were not Love blind in a Clergy-man, as in other carnal men, that story of Paphnutius, in the Council of Nice, had been concealed for shane, who spake only for a permission to those Priests who had taken wives before Orders, but declares it to be a custom in the church of God, and according to the ancient canons, 

Citat. B●llarminis. Ch●ysost. Th odo●●● O cumeniu●. Theop●yl●s. Ambrosius. ●●ymo.  
Tertul. Lib. de Monogami●.  
Hieron Lib. 1. in Jovinianum.  
August. Lib. de opere M●n●chorum. Cap. 4.  
Ad h●● enim fid. less mulicies haben●es terreram substantiam ibant cum eis,& ●inistrabant eis, de substantia sua, ut nullius indigerent horum quae ad necessaria huj●s vitae pertinent. Quod Beatu. Paulus lice●e sibi demonstrat. sicut& caeteri Apostoli faciebant, said ca potestate senti ●oluisle p●stea commemorat.  
Hoc quidam non intelligentes n●n sororem mulierem cum ille diceret. Numquid non habemus potestatem sororem mulierem circum●lucendi, said uxorem interpretati sunt. F●●●llit eos verbi Graeci {αβγδ} amb●guitas.   that wives be not at all allowed to Priests, after they had taken on them the Priesthood.  
The blessed Apostles it ●●ed were ma●●ied men, at least some of them were, saith Clemens. Alexand. All, but St. Jahn, saith Ignatius. None, but St. Peter saith St. jerome. When they were chosen into the Apostleship, they left all sensuality, saith St. Jerome. And although they had still, as St. Paul speaks, liberty to carry about a Wife, a Sister, as well as Cephas; the latter explicates the former, saith St. Jerome. All that followed the Apostles, followed not as Wives, but in the chastity of Sisters, saith Clem. Alexand.  
But all the young Timothyes of the English Clergy, are encouraged to mary, by that advice of St. Paul to Timothy, 1 Timothy 3.2. Let a Bishop be the Husband of one Wife. Which Text, the Devil, and Jovinian of old corrupted then, as the English Clergy do at this day: as if the Apostle had allowed a Bishop or a Priest to mary one wife after consecration to the Priestly Office: a Text wrested to your own hot damnation.  
It was not a Law, saith Chrysostome, 
Quod& Uxor& mulier eodem verbo graece dicitur quamquam hoc ita posuerit Apostolus ut falli non dubuerint: q●ia ●eque mulierem tantum ait said sororem mulierem, nequ● ducendi said circumducendi, Veruntamen alios non fefellit interpretes haec ambiguitas,& mulierem non uxo●em interpretati sunt. Tit. 6. Exponunt 1 T●m. 3.2.  that a Bishop be the husband of one wife; but the Apostle indulged in those dayes, when chastity was very rare, that the husband of one wife only might be admitted then to the Priesthood.  
You may admit to the Office of a Bishop one that hath children, not one that begets children after consecration to the Office of a Bishop, saith St. A●●●●ete.  
〈…〉 ●●●ose a Bishop that 〈…〉 o had only on● 〈…〉 aft●● he is made a Bishop, he were ●o ●●n, but an adulterer, 
S●. Chrysost. Paulus Apostolus ubi ad gentes pr●ficisci●●● summum virtutis pondus illis non imposuit, said ubi in o●be Adulte ●is, fornicationibusque repleto voiuit ●ibes Pastores constituere,& quoniam V●rtutes ●aro inveniebantur Episcopos ordinans Tito dixit, constitue Episcop●s sicut ego dispo●ui: Si quis &c.& unius uxo●is virum. Non ea ratione qu●d id nunc in Ecclesia observetur: opo●ter enim omni pr●rsus cas●tate S●c●rdotem ornatum ●lle. said quod id quamd q●e ad eos qui in fornicat●one erant, magnum svit, ideo dicit, Constitue Episcop●s sicut ego disposui● tibi; Si quis est sine crimine, unius uxoris vi●: Non quod id Legis l●co posu●rit, said quod ●●ori●ign scebat. Epist. 82. St. Ambros. in verba Sancti Pauli {αβγδ}, &c. Unius uxoris virum praecipit esse; non quo exortem excludat conjugii, nam hoc supra legem p●ecept. est. said ut conj●gali castimo●ae servet ablu●ionis suae gratiam. Neque item um ut filios in Sacerdotin c●eate apostle ca invitetur authoritate: Habentem enim d●xit filios, non facientem. Lib. 1. Officiorum cap. 50. Inostensum exhibendum,& immaculatum min●sterium, nec ullo conjugali coitu violandum cognoscitis. Qui integro corpore, in corrupto pudore alieni etiam ab ipso consortio jugali sacri ministerii gratiam recipistis. St. Jeronymus L b cont. Vigilantium. in haec verbi; Oportet ergo Episcopum esse irreprehensibilem unius uxoris virum. Non enim dicit eligatur Episcopus qui unam ducat uxorem,& filios faciat, said qui unam habue●it ux●rem& fili●s in omni su●ditos disciplina: Certe confiteris non posse esse Episcopum, qui in Episcopatu filios facit, aliequin si deprehensus fuerit, non quasi virtenebitur, said quasi adulter damnabitur. Si Laicus& quicunque fidelis orare non potest, nisi c●reat officio conjugali: Sacerdoti cvi semper pro populo offerenda sunt sacrificia semner orandum est, si semper orandum est, ergo semper carendum est matrimonio. St. Epiphan. Haeres. 59. Revera non suscipit sancta predicatio Dei post Christ, adventum eos qui a nuptiis mortua ipsorum ux●re, secundis nuptiis, conjuncti sunt, propter excellentem Sacerdotii dignitatem: Et haec certo sancta Dei Ecclesia cum sinceritate observat. said& adhue v●ven●em& Liberos gignentem unius uxoris virum non suscipit, said cum qui se ab una continuit, ●ut in viduitate vixit Diaconum,& Presbyterum,& Episcopum& Hypodiacontum, max●me ubi sinceri sunt Canones Ecclesiastici, Ac dices mihi, omnino inquibusdam l●cis adhuc liberos gignere,& Presbyteros,& Diaconos,& Hypodiaconos. At hoc non est juxta Canonem said j●xta hominum mentem qua per tempus elanguit,& propter multitudinem▪ cum non inveniretur ministerium.  saith St. Jerome.  
So conclusive, so positive, is all antiquity upon this Text, and upon divers others of the Old and New Testament, against Clergy marriage, or all conjugal society with wives after holy Orders taken; that no Apostle, no Scripture, no Age, no Council, no Father, no Saint, in the church of God, ever taught, ever allowed it, from the Beginning to this day.  


St. August. 8. Faustum Man●chaum.  
Ille enim prohibet, qui hoc maium esse dieit; non qui huic bono aliud melius anteponit.  
St. Jerome in Math. 13.8.  
Centesimus,& sex●gesimus,& tricesimus fructus.  
Triginta referuntur ad Nuptias: Sexaginta vero ad vicuas: paro numerus Centesimus exprimit Virginitatis coronam, oro te, q●l haec loquitur; damnat Nuptias?  
Epist. 38. ad Lotum. Novitium.  
Si Tyro Christi es: Si fundamenta turris posuisti, ne d●cant Transeuntes. Hic homo caepit ae●●ncare& non potuit perficere. Ca●nalis enim affectus est iste& adhuc veterem hominem sonat. St. August. Quaest, 127. Veteris ac novi Testam. said fort dicatur si licet& bonum est nubere cur sacerdotibus non licet uxores habere, i.e. ut Ordinatis jam non liceat convenire? Respice Antistitem Dei puriorem caeteris esse opirter, ipsius enim Personam habere videtur: est enim Vicarius ejus, ut quod caeteris licet illi non liceat, quia necesse est quotidie Christi vicem ag●re, aut orare pro populo aut offere aut tingere.   The catholic Doctrine then, which forbids Priests only to mary, cannot be the Doctrine of such Devils, as Saturninus, and the gnostics were; for we modestly check the Devils cavil in a sensual Divine, by an apology of Tertullians; Non projicimus said deponimus nuptias. We damn not marriage, but lay it aside only for Gods service, while the Priest takes upon him the person of Christ, and that most sacred Office: and therefore, though marriage be good in itself, yet a Priest may not mary, saith St. Augustine.  
I pity therefore every married Divine, who, after holy Orders taken, divorceth himself from God, and by a second carnal marriage, devotes himself to serve the World, the Flesh, and the Devil; and fix St. Augustines note upon him; Hic homo caepit aedificare& non potuit perficere: This man began in the spirit, and endeth in the flesh.  
I conclude this ancient Tradition of the Chastity of Priests, 
Epiphan. Haeres. 7● Numquid in hon●…stae ●unt Nuptiae Numquid impuru●… cubile? At a Pr●…phetis& Pontificbus prohibentur propter majus Ministerium. Nam post quam Propheravit Moses, non amplius conjunctus est uxori non amplius Liberos genuit habet enim vitam, Domino vacantem vacare autem Domino non potest qui mariti Officio fungtiur.  with another more ancient, cited by Epiphanius, viz. That Moses himself, after he was made Priest, knew his Wife no more, that he might with all purity execute the Priestly Office.  
So Aynsworth in his Notes on Numbers 12. teacheth out of the rabbis, That th●… cause why Aaron and miriae murmured against Moses, was, because Moses abstaine●… from his Wife Zippora, lest being now a Prophet, daily conversant with God, an●… frequenting the Tabernacle, he should have been detained from the Sanctuary, by reason of Legal Pollutions, Levit. 15.16. Exod. 19.15. Thus the Chaldae; therefore Aaron and miriae murmured, saying, Hath the Lord only indeed spoken with Moses, o●… only by Moses, who is separated from copulation of the bed; hath he not also spoken by us: and yet we have not separated ourselves from the way of the Earth? And upon Verse 8. When other Prophets had done propheeying, they returned to their Tents, for thing●… necessary to the bodies of them all, as to the rest of the people, wherefore they were not separated from their Wives: But Moses our Master returned not to his first Tent, he was separated from his Wife for ever, and his mind was fast bound to the Rock everlasting; and his glory was never taken from him, but the skin of his face shined, and he was sanctified as the Angells. So Maimonides in misu. T●m. 1. in Jusede Hator●th chapped. 7. Sect. 56.  
And God himself decided this controversy, in favour of Moses, and his Church, by striking miriae with a leprosy white as Snow, to let Aaron know, That although it was permitted to him and his Successors to cohabit with their Wives( when they did not minister in the Sanctuary) because the Aaronical Priesthood was to continue in that Genealogy or Tribe; yet God was more pleased in the Continency of Moses, who herein was a Type of Christ, and his Priesthood; of which Priesthood Meleizedech also was another Type, saith our St. anselm; And was therefore without Father and Mother, because the Priest of the New Testament may not have Wives; which if they will enjoy, let them profess themselves Priests of the Sanctuary of the Jews, and not of the Institution of Christ. Nay, even in the Jewish Priesthood, where the yoke of Continency was not enjoined; yet, saith Venerable Bede, Moses had order from God, Facies F●minalia Linea ut Operiant Carnem: Thou shalt make linen Garments for the High Priest, and his Sons, to cover their shane; that is a command. Let them cover themselves with them: that was an advice only: However, those Priests who did not embrace voluntary Chastity, yet all the time of their attendance upon the Altar, they were forbidden to go home to their own houses. If so, Then the Priests of the Christian Law, that they may ever attend on the Altar, may never mary; it is an eternal command, saith Venerable Bede. This was the Doctrine of Moses, of Christ, of his Apostles, of all Ages, of 37. Councils, General and National, both of the Greek and latin Church, i.e. from the Beginning, viz, That after holy Orders taken, no Priest presume to mary, or to have the use of Wives for ever. And the contrary Doctrine was the Doctrine but of your Martyn Luther, of your Carlstadius, the archdeacon of wittenberg, of your Wickleffe, of your Vigilantius, and( that you may not want Antiquity) of your Nicholaus of Antioch, one of the 7. Deacons; who at first lived continently, as others did, but afterwards taught the use of Wives, to be necessary to salvation; for which, and other Impurities, he was by St. Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, numbered among the heretics, i.e. those that teach the Doctrine of Devils.  
Lastly, I conclude this Mornings Exercise there, where your Reformation had its Beginning, viz. in the Point of Divorce; which the Roman Church teacheth and practiseth as Christ and his Apostles taught, as it appeared in that famous case of Henry the 8th. his Divorce; which was opposed by all the most Learned catholics, at home and abroad, except some few, in foreign Universities, corrupted by the Kings money; Quos fames magis quam fama moveret; as Card●nal pool writes of them, 
●… eidan.  in his Letters to Henry the 8th. whose Subscriptions the King divulged in the Names of those Universities, viz. of Paris, Orleans, Anjou, Tolose, Padua, &c. As at home, where, but 8. Persons in the University of Oxford, subscribed the Letters of Divorce, in the Name of that University; 
〈◇〉 ●… llion ●… onsiliari●… s Regis.  which Fraud, one of the Kings Emissaryes, who dyed at brussels, confessed; and also Gods wrath upon them for it, in these words; I think few of those Doctors are now living. Qui pretexto Academiarum nomine, venali ministerio Divortium suaserunt. But the Universities of Germany, and the generality of the Learned, of all other Universities, withstood the Divorce; and wrote against it almost from all parts of Christendom; as Cochlaeus from Germany, Schora from Flanders, Duarenus from France, Alfonsus a Castro from Spain, Gomesius from Portugal, Cajetane from Italy, our Cardinal pool, and our Roffensis at home; and the latter prophesied, that this Divorce, would infallibly bring Schism into these Kingdoms. 
Epist. ●… lem. ad Henricum ●… ta Ro●… nae Anno. 1533.  And lastly, This Divorce was declared Null by the Definitive Sentence of Clement the 7th. Thus careful, hath the Roman pastor, and all good catholics been, to preserve the ancient Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, in the matter of Divorce.  
On the other hand, that Divorce was managed by your Cranmer, and his Associates; and was by Protestants, Lutherans,( except Melanchton) zwinglians, Calvinists, applauded, as that which gave a Beginning to their Gospel in these parts; 
●ibri 2. ●… xhibiti Elizabe●hae Ann. 1573.  in these words; O Blessed Marriage, which certainly was not without the Divine appointment, to deliver this Nation from egyptian Darkness, and to place the true Worship of Christ in this Kingdom.  
Here began the unhappy Division of the two Churches, in these Kingdoms, catholic and Reformed, viz. upon the fatal Point of Divorce; Cranmer, and his Faction, obeying the Lust of Henry the 8th. and the Roman pastor, with the catholic Church, obeying Christ and his Apostles, in the Doctrine of Divorce.   
Here ends the Morning Sermon.   

The Points handled in the Second Sermon, or Exhortation.  

1. THe Supremacy of the Church, and the Roman Pastours in Spirituals.  
2. The Supremacy of Kings in Seculars, and the Fidelity of Roman catholics to their Kings.  
4. The Marks of the catholic Church, and the Marks of a Church in Schism.  
Lastly, The Querela Catholica( in imitation of St. Augustine to the Donatistt) addressed to the Reformed Churches.    

THE EXHORTATION in the Afternoon.  
ye see, Beloved, what was the catholic Faith of all Antiquity in the points spoken of in the Forenoon; and how it was believed before the dayes of Reformation, Even from the Beginning to this day. And yet the Two Churches are here as they were in Africa, still divided. 
St. Aug. Lib, 1. contra G●uden●um. Adversus Verum& summum Regem Ch●istianorum tanquam civili bello Ch●●stian ●signa po●tastis.  De Divisione agitur: the schismatics will not agree, which is the ancient Faith, the ancient Church. But it is time, high time, to end this Spiritual War, which hath begot new and fatal Schisms in the State, as well as in the Church; where the P●eb●ians, as the circuncellions in Africa, have made a bloody War among us, and murdered one o● the best of Kings: And not only so, but( to use St. Augustines expression) have made a War with Christianity itself, and born the Ensigns of their wild faiths against the King of Christians.  
Now the way to decide this perplexing controversy, which hath been fatal to our civil, and our eternal peace, viz. which is the true catholic Church of Christ; is, to submit to the rules of the primitive Christians.  
And first to Tertullians rule, Ostendant ergo origines Ecclesiarum suarum; Let those, who pretend to be the orthodox Christians, show the originals, the beginning of their Churches, and their continued succession from the Apostles times to this day. As for the reformed Churches, your Patriarch Luther proclaimed to the world their beginning, 

Luth. Epist. ad A●gent●nenses Anno 1525.  
Christum a nobis pri●● promulgatum audemus gloriari. Tertul. de pr●script. Ego sum haeres Apostolorum atque ex illis sumus antequam nihil aliter fuit quam sumus.   in these words, We dare glory, that Christ was first of all preached by us. On the other hand, the catholic, who holds communion with the Roman pastor, hath Tertullians ancient beginning, I am heir of the Apostles; We descend from those before whom there was nothing but as we are.  

L●b. ad Hermogen●m. S●lemus haereticis compendii gratia de posteritate praescribere. Quod denique fuit antequam nobis interpolarentur.  Secondly, If there be a controversy between two Churches, which is the catholic, then, saith Tertullian, we convince the Church that is guilty of heresy& schism by this short but pithy argument; It is ever the after or latter Church, the Church that pretends to reform; 
St. Optat. Videndum est quis in radice cum to o o●he man erit, quis fo● as exierit, quis Cathedram sederit alte●am quae antea n●n fue●●●, quis Alt●●e contra altar e●exerit, quis O●dinationem sec●rit salvo altero O dinato.  that Church is therefore not the catholic Church.  
A third rule is, that of St. Optatus, Videndum est, &c. If a dispute be, which of two Churches is the catholic Church, then we must examine which Church remained in the root of catholic communion with the whole world, which Church went forth,& formed a new Church Authority, and erected an Altar against an Altar, and made new Ordinations, the former Priests yet living: In a word, Quos esse Scismaticos manifestum est, Vos enim foras existis. Those are out of question the schismatics who go forth from the Church of the whole world.  
And indeed no Evidence against our Novel heretics and schismatics can be greater than their own. Ego in Initio solus fui, saith Luther, In the Beginning of the Reformation I was alone: And Coacti fuimus, &c. We were compelled to leave the Communion of all Christians, saith Calvin: whereas the definitive note of true catholics was ever that of Tertullian, 

Lib. de prescript, Communicamus cum Ecclesi●s Apostolicis quod nulla Doctrina dive●sa: hoc est Testimonium Veritatis.  
St. Optatus contra Parmen.  
Obj cio tibi crimen Scismacis quod tu negabis. Ego autem statim probab●, Non Communicas cu● omnibus Ecclesi●s.   We Communicate with the Apostolical Churches, which no heretical Society doth: this is the Testimony of Truth. And on the contrary that of St. Optatus to Parmenian was the eternal note of a schismatic, viz. I object to thee the Crime of Schism, which thou wilt deny, and I will as easily prove it. Non Communicas cum omnibus Eccl●siis, Thou dost not communicate with all the Churches. It is also reported by the same Father, that when the Donatists had usurped the name of Cathol●que( as it is ever the fashion of all heretics and schismatics to do, saith St. Augustine;) the Bishops of Italy came down to Africa, 

St. Optat. Lib. 1. ad sinem.  
Illam esse Catholicam quae toto orb terrarum esse diffusa.   and abode there 40. dayes, to proclaim this Article of christian faith, viz That is the catholic Church which is diffused and spread over the whole earth. For so indeed was it prophesied of old, that the Religion of Christ should not be confined to a corner of the world, to an iceland, but Exivit sonus ejus in universum orb●m, The sound of the Gospel should go forth to the ends of the Earth. And our blessed S●vi●ur promi●●d Acts 1. E●itis mihi testes, &c. Ye shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, 

Aug. Sermon 131. 181.  
Idciteo in Symb●lo dicimus: Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Cathol●cam id est toto orb distusam.   and Judea, and Samaria,& usque ad fines terrae: Upon which words St. Augustine glosseth, Ecce unde Catholica vocatur? Behold, why and whence the Church is called catholic? Her beginning was at Jerusalem, and her extent is to the ends of the earth. And the same Father expounding that Article of the Creed, Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam, saith, that Therefore we say in our Ceeed, I believe in the catholic Church, which is the Church diffused over the whole earth.  
Is there a dispute then between the two Churches, which of them is the catholic Church? then hear St. Augustines, and St. Jeromes gr●ve decision of the controversy, viz. heretics& schismatics are not catholics, 

St. August.  
Quia diversorum haeretico●um Ecclesiae ideo Catholicae non d●cuntur eo quod per l●ca& per suas quaeque Provincias continentur haec vero ab ortu sol●s usque ad occasum unius fidei splendore diffunditur.   because they are ever confined to certain places and Provinces: but the catholic Church is extended in the splendour of one faith from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof. There were in St. Jeromes dayes, the Luciferians, who, as the reformed Churches in our dayes, could not endure the corruptions of the catholic Church, and taught, that in that iceland of Sardinia only, the church was reformed to its primitive perfection; but St. Jeromes answer to those schismatics was then confounding, as it is now to all that err the same error with the Luciferians in the point of Reformation, 

St. ●ierom D●alog● adversus luke s●●anos.  
Sanctam Ecclesiam per to●um Orbem terrarum distu●am non habet Christus, ●u● si in S●●●inia tantum habet nimium paup●r factus e●t: En si B raaniam, G●llias, O icatem l●dorum, populos Ba b●es Natione,& totum simul mundum ●●ssidet Sa●●nas Quom do ad Augulum universae terrae Tropl ae ●c●u●●s c●ll● a sunt. Nimi●um adversa●ius p●tens c●ncerli● Christo H beriam& Celtineros luridos ●●mines inope●que Prov nciam dedig●●s est possid and. Absit ut frust●a Christus mortuus si: Alliga●●s est f●rtis& Vasa ejus d●●epta sunt.   viz Then hath the Devil been too strong for Christ, and hath confined him to set up the trophies of his across in a corner of the world, while himself p●ss●sseth Italy, Spain, France, the Empire, the B●●bari●ns of th● East and West, and hath granted only to Christ, Hyberiam& Celtiberos, a Nation or two; Then is Chr●st dead in vain, saith St. Jerome, to whom the whole earth was given for an inheritance, and the e●ds thereof for his possession, Psal. 2.17.  
The Religion of the Jews, and of Christ, were both typified in the story of Gi●eons fleece, viz. when the due fell upon the fleece, and all the earth beside was dry, that signified the Jewish Religion: but when the due fell upon the whole earth, and not upon Gideons fleece, then was typisied the Law or Faith of Christ, that should be taught all the world over, and not in a corner only any more. 
Allocutio Pat●is implera est Postula à in& d●●o Gentes in he●ed●tatem& possessi●nem tuam Terminos terrae.  Our Saviour himself foretold how ye should know heretics and schismatics from the true church of Christ; They are ever at this; Ecce hic est Christus, ●cce illic est, ecce in foribus; lo, Christ is here; lo, he is there; lo, he is at the doors: Believe them not, saith our Saviour, lo, he is here in a Lutheran Reformist; lo, he is there in a Praesbyterian Minister; lo, he is neither here nor there, but at the doors, in the private spirit of an independent. But the Devil is here and there, saith Origen. Christ is preached every where; item predicate omni genti, go teach all Nations, there is the catholic Faith, that is the catholic Church, the Church of all Nations: from which Faith and Church what society of Christians soever remain separate, will infallibly bring on themselves secular disorders and confusions here, and( without Gods mercy to those who are invincibly ignorant) eternal damnation hereafter.  
I end this note of the catholic Church, as it hath been, is, and ever shall be distinguished from the Church in schism and heresy, 

St. Aug. Lib. de Unitate Eccles. Cap. 3. Singulae ha●eses in multis gentibus ubi Ecclesia est non inveniuntur.  
Ecclesia autem quae ●bique est e iam ubi illae sunt invenitur.  
Lib. 2. contra Gaudentium Cap. 2.  
Q 'd igitur& vos ipsos fallere& alios mendaciis impudentibus Vul●●s● Si Vestra est Ecclesia Ostendite per totum Orbem radios portigere, Ostendire illa● per Universam terram ramos su●s copia  
ubertatis extendere St. Aug. Lib. de ●nitate Ecclesiae.  
P●tilianum clamasse decem Tribus divisas esse& traditas servo Solomonis Jeroboamo: Deinde Comparatione singendo dictitasse: Sic& nunc totus mundus Apostatavit; Nos autem tanquam illae duae tribus permansimus in Templo Dei.  
Cap. 2.  
Ostendant Scriptum se esse tales,& tunc resistimus Scisma. Vero O tendebat Donatistas similes esse dec●m T● bu●●●▪ S●ccessi ●ostendebat Catholicos esse, tales quails duas Tribus.  
J sephus. Audita M yses leg●& probata Pont ficu● Judae●rum continuâ successione recte j●d●c●●um ●st pro primo Templo H●erosolomitano.   with two passages more of St. Augustine, the first in Lib. de unitate Ecclesiae Cap. 3. Heresies are not found nor heard of in many Nations where the Church is; But the Church of Christ which is every where, is there also where those Heresies are. The second is, in Lib 2. Cap. 2. to Gaudentius the Donatist, Quid igitur& Vos, &c. Why do ye Donatists deceive yourselves and others? if yours be the catholic Church show it to us, that it diffuseth its light through the whole world, show that it extends its branches over the whole Earth.  
Notwithstanding this evidence from St. Augustine, and the Fathers of the four first Ages, viz. The Religion of all Nations is the catholic Religion: yet the Reformed Divines cease not to Traduce the catholic church of Christ, Comparing her, as Petilian the Donatist, did the catholic church of his time to the ten Revolted Tribes of Israel, and themselves to the two Tribes of Juda and Jerusalem: To whom we answer now as St Augustine did to them: Ostendant Scriptum se esse tales, &c. Let them show that they are such as the two Tribes were, and wee'l grant them to be the true Church: But Schism proved the Donatists then( and the Reformed Divines now) to be such as the ten Tribes were, and Succession shows the catholics to be such as the two Tribes were. Josephus in his Antiquities tells a story how the Samaritan Jews and the Jews at Jerusalem were at a contest which of them were the ancient Church; And the matter was brought before ptolemy King of egypt; who when he had heard the Law of Moses red, and saw the succession of the High Priest of Jerusalem to that day; Recte judicatum est pro Templo Hierosolymitano; it was rightly judged by Ptolomey for the Temple of Jerusalem, saith Josephus; So that if any shall now, as the Donatists of old, object to the Roman church, that she is as the ten tribes were, we confute them by St. Augustines authority; Successio nos esse Catholicos ostendit: Succession shows us to be the catholic church.  
Lastly, If two Chu●ches are at a debate, which of them is the true church of Christ; ye shall know the true church from the heretical and schismatical by another rule of the ancients, viz. No Religion is or can be the Religion which was instituted by Christ, but what is and is name the catholic Religion: 
St. Aug Lib. de ver● Reli●ione Cap 7. Tenenda est nobis Christ●ana Religio& ejus Ecclesia q●ae Catholica est& Catholica vocatur non solum a suis verum etiam ab omnibus inimic s.  it is St. Augustines rule: We must em●race that christian Religion which is catholic, and which is called catholic, not only by the catholics, but by the enemies of the catholic faith; for all Sects call the catholic, the catholic, otherwise they cannot be understoood, saith St. Augustine.  
2. Secondly, What Faith is name by the name of any man or sect, that is not the faith of true christians, 

L●ctantius de vera Religione L●b. 4. Cap. ultimo.  
Christiani esse desierunt qui Christi nomine amisso humana& externa vocabula indu●runt: Sola Catholica verum cultum retinet. St. Je●ome Dialogo adversus Lucisé i●nos:  
Sicubi audieris qui Christiani dic●ntur non a Christo said ab alio quopiam nominari puta Marcionitas, Vale●tinianos, M●re●s●s, non ess● Ecclesiam Christi, said Antichristi Synagogam.   but of heretics, saith Lactantius. If a church be name the church of Marcionists, Valentinians, or Montanists; that is not the church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antithrist, saith St. Jerome: who, had he lived now, would have spoken that truth to this reformed age. If a sort of christians be name Berengarians, Wickcleffists, Waldenses, Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, Reformists, &c. those are not the ca●holique church, nor members of the cat●olique church of christ. I conclude with St. Athanasius, who, when the Arrians had usu●ped the name of catholic to themselves, tells them, they must be name Arrians, not catholics; For heretics, by the providence of God, 

Contra qui haereticos sequuntur tametsi mill successores habeant omnes tamen nome●… ej●s qui prius haeresi● admoverit, ●eferunt. H●c eximium est& admirabile argumentum a●… hae●et●cam S●cta●… explorandam.  
St. Athanas.   shall bear the name of their heretical novelty, either from their place, or action, or person, who first led to heresy, as long as that heresy shall endure: which is a wonderful proof of an heretical Sect. saith Athanasius. Only the church of Christ, and her christians, bear the name of catholics to the worlds end.  
Of this Church, this Church of all Nations, was it therefore prophesied; that Kings shall be her nursing Fathers, and Queens her nursing Mothers, and of no other. All other Religions are subject to mutability and error: only, of the catholic church, or the Church of all Nations, is Tertullians question true: Quid veri simile est tot ac tanta in unam fidem erraverint? How is it likely, that so many, and so great Nations, should all err in one Faith? This Faith then, this infallible Religion, only, deserves the providence of God, and the care and protection of Kings.  
Moses in the Text was both Priest and King; Moses and Aaron among his Priests, Ps. 98.6. He alone therefore had a double care, as holding both the supremacies, over the affairs both of God and men; in token whereof he had both the Trumpets, Numb. 10.2. Of all therefore that governed Israel, Solus Moyses unxit altar, Only Moses anointed the Altar; for he was the High Priest of God, saith St. lo: But at the death of Moses, the two powers or supremacies were divided, as God commanded Moses, Numb. 27.20, 21. Thou shalt put some of thine honour upon Joshua, V. 20. And he shall stand before Eleazar the High Priest, V. 2. At whose word Joshua shall go in and out, for he shall ask counsel of the Lord. So that Joshua governed over the affairs of State, as Judge or King: and Eleazar over the affairs of God, as High Priest; which two powers or supremacies were severed in the Priests and Kings of Israel for ever after.  
The Kings of Israel had, and all Kings who receive their civil power from God, per media juris naturalis, gentium,& civilis, have the Laws of Nature committed to them: but the traditions of Religion, or positive Laws, or superstructures of the Laws of Nature, were then committed to the High Priest of the Jews, and now are committed to the High Priest of the Christians.  

Gotius L●b. 2. de Jure B●lli& Pacis, ●ap. 20. Text 9.  So that when the Kings of Juda did Reform at any time, they did it not jure suprematus, as supreme over the affairs of God; but either jure prophetico, as David and Solomon Reformed Israel: or by a Law called judicium zeli in Israel, by which not only Kings, but the High Priest Reformed all Israel, as Jehojada did, 2 Chron. 23. V. 15. And when the Kings of Juda did Reform the Idolaters of that people, judicio zeli, they did it ever with and after the advice of the High Priest, as Josia Reformed with Helkia the High Priest, 4 Kings 22. V. 8. Hezekia Reformed, not without Azaria the High Priest, 2 Chron. 29.31. Chap. V. 10. Jehoshaphat Reformed with Amaria the chief Priest, 2 Chron. 19.11. Those Kings indeed set the Priests to their several Offices in the Temple, not as supreme Judges of those matters, but having received the Law first from the hands of the High Priest, when they sate down in the Throne of their Kingdom, Deutron. 17.18. As Josia received the Book of the Law from Helkia the High Priest, in which Law Kings might not act in the affairs of God, unless the High Priest had first asked counsel of God, Numb. 27.21. When the High Priest then had declared or expounded the Law, as to the worship of God, judicialiter and directive, then it belonged to the secular power of the Kings of Juda, ministerialiter and executive, to see that both Priest and People observe the Laws of God, and to remove Idolaters from the Land.  
And that these two powers were so distinguished, the learned Grotius states it well; who, 
Gotius L●b. 1. Cap. 3. Parag. 20 de Jare belly& Pacis.  when he proves out of Moses Maimonides, that the Kings of Juda were more absolute and supreme than the Kings of Israel; yet, he relates, that there were some reserved cases in which even the Kings of Juda had no power to judge, viz. De Tribu, de Pontifice, de Propheta, Jerem. 38.5.  
And when Uzzia the King usurped upon the Priestly Office, the High Priest Azaria withstood him: Non est tui Uzzia: And cast him out of the Temple, who became a leper for that sacrilege to the day of his death: but observe withall, that he cast him out of the Temple only, not out of his Kingdom. And yet Jehojada the High Priest seemed to proceed further, when he deposed Athalia, 2 Chron. 23. V. 15. But she was an Usurpress, otherwise no High Priest of the Jews might, or may now under Christianity, depose their lawful Queen or King in Juda, or elsewhere, for any cause or crime whatsoever. Tibi soli peccavi, Being the Kings prerogative for ever, saith St. Jerome. If Kings offend, they give an account to God alone, not to man: either Priest or people.  
On the other hand, Solomon deposed Abiathar the High Priest; and he might do it, for he was a Rebel; and yet, saith Procopius, Deposuit eum a principatu: non a sacerdotio: for the former dignity he had permissione regia: the latter, electione generis. So much for the two Supremacies, the one of the High Priests, over the affairs of God: the other of the Kings of Iuda and Israel, over the affairs of men.  
And as they were distinguished under the Jewish Law, so were they much more under the Law of Christ. Christian Kings were ever subject to the Priests in the affairs of God, and Priests were subject to Kings in the affairs of the world.  
St. Athanasius put the question, Quando ab aevo condito auditum fuit? 
St. Athanasius, ●am si istud est ju●… icium Episc●porum ●… vid cum eo com●… un habet Impe●… ator.  When was it heard of, since the dayes of Christianity, that Emperours and Kings ruled over the house of God? To see an Emperour or King sit as Judge and Prince over the Bishops, 
Quis enim viderit eum in decernendo Principem se facere Episcopo●um& praesidere Judiciis Ecclesiasticis non merito dicat eum esse Abominationem Desolationis quae a daniel praedicata est.  to define and prescribe in church matters as Head of the Church, it is the very abomination of desolation, set up in the house of God, spoken of by Daniel, saith the same Athanasius. The same question which St. Athanasius put to Constantius, did St. Ambrose put to Valentinian the younger. Quando audivisti Imperator? O Emperour, when hast thou heard, 

St. Ambrose. Q●ando audivisti Imper●tor in Causa Fidei L●icos de Episcopo judicasle?  
St. Ambr. Ep. 33. Nolite grave●e ●●perator ut pu●es te in ea quae Divina ●unt imperial aliquod j●s habere.  
St. Cyril Catech●s. 17. Ad hodie●●●m usque diem c●rnimus man lanos Principes regi& instrui ab Ecclesiasticis.  
Russia. Lib. 1. Cap. 2. Deus vos consticuit Sacerdotes& potestatem dedit v●b●s, de nobis q●eq●e jud●candi;& ideo nos a vobis recte judicamur vos autem non potestis ab hominibus judicari; propter quod Dei selius inter vos expectate judicium— vos erenim nobis a Deo dati estis D●i& conveniens non est, ut homo judicet Deos, said ille solus de quo Scriptum est Deus stetit in Synagoga, Deorum, in medio autem Deos discernit. St. Ambrose Lib 5. Epist. 32. Tam Liberiam fuisse Concilii congregati disputationem, ut Constantinus nullas ei L●ges componerer; Si confetendum est de Fide Sacerdotum debet esse ista collatio, sicut factum est sub Constantius August●● memoriae principe, qui nullas Leges ante permissit, said Libereum dedid judicium Sacerdotibus.   that a lay-man judged over the Bishops in Matters of Faith? Think not, O Emperour that thou hast any Imperial power in divine matters. And St. Cyril of Jerusalem speaks it to be a traditionary truth from the beginning of Christianity, viz. We see even to this day, that the Princes of this world are governed and instructed by the Pastours of Gods Church.  
All the pious christian Emperours, from Constantine to Charles the Great, confessed themselves the Churches Subjects, Ruffinus reports of Constantine, that he spake thus of the Nicaene Fathers; Deus vos constituit Sacerdotes, &c. God made you Priests, and gave you power over us, to judge us: Ye are Gods, and Man cannot judge you; but he only of whom it it written, Deus stetit in Synagoga Deorum. The same Council was called by Constantine, ex Sacerdotum Concilio, saith Ruffinus Lib. 10. And when the Council was convened, he used no Imperial power over the Council, but left them free to judge in those matters, saith St. Ambrose of him. Thus also spake Valentinian the First, 

Socra●. L b. 6. Cap 7. {αβγδ} D●st●ct 96. Cap. E●●dent●r.  
Illicitum est namque eum qui non sit in ordine Sanct ssi norum Episcoporum Ecclesiasticis in termisceri Tractatubas.  
Valentinian 3. in Epist, ad Theod. Imper. Quarenus Beaussin●●s Romanae Civitatis Episcopus cvi Principatu● Sacerdotii supper omnes Antiquitas contulit locum habeat& facultatem de fide& S●cerdotibus Judica●e.  
Justinian Epist. ad Papam Joannem. cod. L b. 1. Tit. 1. de Summa Trinit●te.  
Reddent●s honorem Apostolicae Sedi, &c. Ut Legum origin●● anterior Roma so●tita est ita summi Pontificatus apicem apud cum east nemo est qui ●ubitat.  
Lib. 5. Legum Franciae Cap. 167.  
Principatum totius Sanctae Ecclesiae in ●uas ex●mias perso●as Sacerdotalem& Regalem divisas east novimus.   to the Bishops of Hellespont and Bithinia: I am a lay-man, and may not meddle in the matters of Councils. Theodosius the younger, declared in the Ephesine Council, that he was no Bishop, he had therefore no definitive sentence there. The two Emperours, Martian and Valentinian, the one present in the Chalcedon Council, confessed before 600 Fathers, that he was there, not to exercise his Imperial Authority, but to confirm the Faith, as Constantine had done before. And Valentinian proclaimed, That, the Principality of Government in Church Matters, was not of right in the Emperour, but in the Roman pastor; and was so from the Beginning. This the confession of the first Christian Emperours, and this the faith of the first four general Councils,  
The time would fail me to instance in B●silius the Emperour, and others, who all rejected Church Supremacy. I add only two pregnant examples more, to wit, Justinian, and Charles the Great: The first in these words; We give honour to the Apostolical Chair, and we refer to your Holiness all Ecclesiastical affairs, who is the Head of all holy Churches. And we well know, saith Charles the Great, That, the tw● supreme powers in christendom, are divided between two persons, the Priest, and the King. i e. The affairs of the Church are immediately under the Priest of God, and the affairs of the present world are under the secular Prince.  
And when the Arrian Emperours Constantius and Valens usurped a Supremacy over the Church: the holy Fathers who knew not what it was to rebel against their lawful Emperour or Prince, yet thought it their duty to speak to those Emperours in the Language of the High Priest of the Jews; Non est tui Uzzia Egredere de Templo. So Hosius to Constantius the Arrian Emperour, It becomes not Churchmen to sway the sceptre, 

V●sius. Ne te m●lcea● Ecclesiast cis u●que fas ●st nobis in terris Imperi●m tene●●, Neque tu Thyn●iama●um neque Sacrorum po●●sta●e● habes.  
Leontius. Miror q●i fiat ut cum a●u ci●andis destina is alii tracte●; Cum e●im militari r●i p●aesis ea tamen pra sc●●bis Ep scopis q●ae ad sol●s Epi●● pos spectant.  
Eulo●●us. Nu●q●●d cum Imperio S●c●rdotii consequucus es Authoritatem.  
S●. A●b. L b 5. Ep 3●. N●n est in 〈◇〉 jud●care inter Ep●c●●p s.  
Ad Val ntin. E is De● f vent, S●nectu●is m●●●itate provect●o●,& tunc de h●c c●asebis qualis i●le Ep●scupus sit, q●i Laicis j●s S●cerdot●le ●●sternit.   nor Emperours to offer Incense or to rule in things sacred: God gave thee the Imperial power, and to us the Church: So spake Leontius of tripoli; I wonder that the Emperours, whose Office is to rule the World, should rule or prescribe in matters which belong to the Bishops only: And when Valens the Arrian Emperour had banished Barza Bishop of Edessa, and created Lupus Bishop in his place, Eulogius asked him, Numquid, &c. Didst thou O Emperour with the Imperial power receive the Priestly power also? Also when both the Donatists, Arrians and Biscillianises solicited the Emperour Valentinian the first, to take upon him the Spiritual power or Headship, St. Ambrose saith of him, that the Emperour refused it in these words, Non est meum, &c. It belongs not to the Emperour to judge in those matters. Thus Valentinian the Father: and when Valentinian the son had taken Church Government upon himself, St. Ambrose tells the Emperour, That when he comes to more maturity of years, he will better know how unworthy that Bishop is who submits the Priestly power to the Authority of the Secular Magistrate,  
I conclude the point with three famous Authorities: 

St. Ign●t. Epist. ad ●●y●nens●s, 〈◇〉 a●e oporret Regem: N●c enim Rege quisq●am prestantio● aut quisq●am similis ei in omnibus ●ebus creatis: Nec Epi●c poq●iqu●m moj s in Ec●●esi●, q i Deo con●ec a us est pro totius ●und● salute.  
St. Fulgen i s. Q●antum pertinet au ●ujus temporis vitam; in Ecclesia ne●●l●●●●ce potio● est& in saecul● Christiano nemo ●●pe●atore celsio● inven●tu●.  
St. Dam●sce● Orat. de Im●gin. R●gum partes non sunt Ecclesiae Leges presc●ibant, non transferimus terminos sempiternos, quas n●bis Patres nostri posuerunt.   The first of St. Ignatius Epist. ad Philadelphos, and Epist. ad Smyrnenses: We Christians must all honour our King, for there is nothing like him for Excellency among Created things; and Gods Bishop, for there is nothing greater in the Church, who is consecrated by God for the Salvation of the World. And therefore saith the same Ignatius, Let all the Clergy, all the People, all the Princes; nay, Caesar himself, obey the Bishop; and the bishop Christ, as Christ obeied the Father. The second of St. Fulgentius, in these words, As to our concernments in this life, no man in the Church is greater than the Pontifex, or High Priest: and in secular affairs, no man is above the Emperour. The last of St. Damascen, The Kings office is not to prescribe Laws to the Church, and we may not remove those eternal bounds which our Fathers have set, from the Beginning.  
But as this is one maxim from the Beginning, so there is another as ancient, viz. That secular Princes are not for Religions Cause to be molested either by Church or People.  
It was the Doctrine of Christians, taught early, even by the Apostles from the Beginning; St. Peter the prime Apostle gave it us, 1. Ep. Cap. 2. V. 12. Be subject therefore to every human creature for God, whether it be to the King as excelling. And St. Paul spake it, 
{αβγδ}.  Let every soul be subject to the higher powers, Rom. Cap. 13. V. 1, Their first scholar St. Clement taught the same, It is not lawful for Christians to oppose their Princes. It was one of the Apostles Constitutions, viz. We must all fear the King, as the hand and appointment of God over us. And down all the Ages to St. Ambrose, it was name, Magnum quidem& spiritual Documentum Christianorum: 
St. Ambrose ad 5, Lucae.  A great and spiritual Maxim among Christians, not to dissolve the Frames of Earthly Kingdoms. And so it is held by all good Roman catholics at this day: who teach, with the Author of the Questions of the Old and New Testament: Divinam esse Traditionem in Officio Ordinis Regalis, That there is Divinity in the Office of a King: Dei enim Imaginem habet Rex sicut Episcopus Christi, For the King hath the Image of God in him, as the Bishop hath the Image of Christ.  
We catholics know that Government in Genere, is Originated in God, Jure Naturali& Divino: And that Government in Specie, is Founded in Jure Gentium, which is a Conclusion of the Law of Nature: And that Obedience is due to all kinds of Government, especially to that of Kings, not only Jure Gentium said Jure Naturali& Divino, as the Apostle, Rom. 15. Quicunque resistit Potestati, Dei Ordinationi resistit. Also all catholics believe, that by the Laws of God in Scripture all Kings are to be obeied, as well the Evil, as the Good: for both are Kings of Gods own appointment: Per me Reges regnant: By me Kings reign, Proverbs 8. And, Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus. my anointed, Esay 45. And, I gave the Kingdoms, to nabuchadnezzar, Ierem. 27. Thou art the King of Kingdoms, and God gave thee the Kingdom, Dan. 2. God, saith St. Augustine, giveth the Kingdom of Heaven to the righteous Kings only, but these Earthly Kingdoms he gives both to the righteous and wicked Kings as he pleaseth, whom no unjust thing can please. He gave the Empire to Marius, and to Caesar; to Augustus, and to Nero; to the Vespatians, and to Domitian; to Constantine, and Julian the Apostate, saith the same St. Augustine. And therefore we honour an Insidel Prince, when he himself is a Vassal of the Devil, because his Power is from God, saith the Author of the Questions, Question 35. in Rom. 13.  
And this obedience we catholics now( as the Christians of the primitive times) give even to wicked Kings, for two Reasons tak●n out of Scripture: The first from Esay 55. where God saith, I gave thee( speaking to Cyrus) the Kingdoms: ut scias quia ego sum Dominus, God gives to wicked Kings their Kingdoms, that they of all others may become good men, whom God in favour prefers above all others to so great a dignity, as St. jerome glosseth. The second Reason is taken out of job 34. Who makes the hypocrite to reign, because of the sins of the people. 

●ae●. C j●s jus●●●●sc●mtu● h●mines, ejus j st● constituum 〈◇〉 P●nci●e● qui ap●i ●●nti●s, q●i t●is s●mporibus ab ips●s R gnantur.  
Fidem bonotum am slione, exilio, morte, non prodam; terram incolo quasi semp r mig●aturus.   In which sense St. Iraeneus spake, Cujus jussu, &c. By whose command men are born, by his command Kings are appointed, who are ever good enough for the people over whom they are made Kings. For these two Reasons catholics, above all others, are b●und to sit down quietly under their Kings, with St. Bernards resolution: Come the loss our Estates, come Banishment, come Death, we will not betray our Faith; for Christians ought to live here in this life, as those who are always ready to be translated hence into a better.  
We catholics declare Kings to be free from any Coercive Power, from their own Laws and Subjects, to which they are not bound Civiliter, but Naturaliter only; for if once a Coactive Power be allowed: Ex Coactione sequitur saltem paritas,& summitatis divisio, as the Civilian speaks; and Kings once compelled by their Subjects, are no more Scripture Kings, Gods Kings; but Titular, Popular Kings only. For Gods Kings, saith Otho Frisigensis, being above all Laws, are reserved to the Divine Judgement hereafter; they may not be punished by the secular Laws. Kings, being as David was, not to be called to account by their Subjects, for their personal errors; of whom St. Ambrose spake: Rex utique erat, &c. He was a King bound by no Laws, for Kings are free from punishment, being made safe by the Imperial Power: Not so much as that Punishment called Lex excalceationis, might pass upon the Kings of Israel; their shoe might not be taken off in Israel, much less their Diadem, their Crown, their Head. No, it was a Law from the Beginning, saith Barnachm●n the Jew of that Government: Nulla Creatura judicet Regem, said Deus Benedictus: No Creature may judge his King, but God who is blessed for ever. The rabbins tell us of a Custom among the Jews, that when any public Calamity befell that People, either of Plague, 
It were well if the Reformed Churches would practise it.  or Famine, or War, or a general decay of Trade; they did not Rebel against their Kings, but a Fast was enjoined throughout all judaea, on the 2d. and 5th. day of the week, to humble all the People, not the King only, as now it is the fashion, since the dayes of Reformation: Of whose first Apostle Luther, Charles the 5th. and the Princes of the Empire, 
Anno 1502.  complained in an Edict at worms; That he took away all Obedience to the Temporal, as well as to the Spiritual Magistrate: That he seduced the Subjects to Rebellion, to Rapines, to Slaughters, to lay Kingdoms waste by fire and sword: That he brought into the Empire a dissolute, lawless, licentious, beastly custom of living: That he was a Rebel to the Laws of God, the Empire, and the Church. What caused the slaughter of 100000. of the Commons in Germany, 
Anno 1525.  but the Doctrine of Luther, and his Reformation? What armed the Protestant Princes against the Emperour Charles the 5th. but the Doctrine of Luther, and the Reformed Churches? What brought Anarchy and Confusion into Germany, but the Anabaptists, 
1546.  the Off-spring of Luthers Reformation? Who made so many Rebels against the Kings of France and Spain, but the Posterity of Luther, the Reformers? Who were the late Rebels of these Kingdoms, but the professed Issue of Geneva? who dealt with us more unkindly than the Iewes did with the Egyptians, for they, after they had borrowed their jewels and Treasure, passed away through the read Sea, and were seen no more: but these, not only robbed us of our Plate, Money and jewels, but passed through the read Sea of the blood of the Nobles and Gentry of the catholics, and other loyal Subjects of the Land; and stayed not there, but passed through the read Sea of the blood of our King also: These are the Rebels of the Reformed Churches.  
And yet the innocent Roman catholics are still defamed, as the Christians in Tertullian: Circa Majestatem Imperatoris infamamur, tamen nunquam Albiniani, vel Nigriani, vel Cassiani, inveniri poterunt Christiani. i. e. in English, We catholics are accused, when as no Lutherans, no Calvinists, no Anabaptists, no Rebels are found among catholic Subjects; who believe, with St. Augustine, that politic Plots, designs, Murmurings, Mutinies against Kings, are not of God: For if God will save a People at any time from destruction, he will reveal it rather to Pharaoh in a dream, than to the People, Gen. 41. To teach the People, That a dream of the worst of Kings is enough, when God will save a Nation; However, Ca●holique Subjects endure oppression from Kings beyond all others, both for their own, and their Kings salvation: For Kings may learn their duties to God, from the patient sufferings of their Subj●cts. N●buchadnezzar saw the Son of God in the fiery furnace of the three Children; he did not see him there merito uo, for he was an Idolater, saith St. Augustine, said merito Regalis Ordinis, for he was a King: So that we catholics believe, if we pass through the fiery furnace of the wrath of Kings, ourselves shall infallibly ascend in that fiery chariot with Elias up into Heaven, and in our Christian patience, in that furnace of afflictions, we may show Kings the Son of God, who never saw him before.  
And whereas the Roman Church, and her pastor, are accused, from every Pulpit, of the Doctrine of Deposing Kings at pleasure; We Answer.  
First, of all others, the Protestant Church ought to be silent in that Point; who from their first Protestation against the Princes of the Empire, i.e. Rebellion, to this day, have done little else than unsettle Kings, and their Kingdoms: And if any party of Protestants have not done so, their Reformed Religion did not restrain them, but either the personal Virtues of some few, or the secular Interest of more; who,( as the Donatists) while the Emp●rour gave them Countenance in Africa, and the Church preferments, none more obsequious to the Emperour than those schismatics, in making Appeals, from the Church, to the Emperour, as Head of the Church, as in Caecilianus his Case: but so soon as the Emperour became not their Friend, then, Quid nobis Imperatori? What is the Emperour to us? The same is, and ever hath been, and will be the voice of Protestants, when ever discountenanced in a State or Kingdom.  
Secondly, As for catholics, and their Fidelity to Kings, none speak it more, none advice or practise it more, in all secular Obediences, than the Roman Pastours, and the catholics, in their Communion; who all teach with St. Ambrose: Tributum Caesaris est, non negatur: Ecclesia Dei est, Caesari utique non debet addici: Tribute is Caesars, none may deny it: The Church is Gods, not Caesars. Bonus Imperator intra Ecclesiam est, non supra Ecclesiam. A good King is within the Church, not above the Church, saith St. Ambrose in Orat. de Tradendis Basilicis; and catholics at this day say no more.  
The Roman pastor is not Lord or governor of the World, as our Turrecramata declares in the name of catholics, Lib. 2. Summae de Ecclesia cap. 113. Neither is he Lord or governor of the Christian World, as our Bellarmine teacheth from Hugo de Sancto Victore Lib. 2. de Sacram. Terrena Potestas Caput habet Regem, Spiritualis Potestas habet summum Pontificem; and it is the joint Confession of the Roman Pastours from St. lo the first, to this day: Martian is chosen by God to be our Emperour, said St. lo, Ep. 38 ad Martianum. Two Powers rule the World, the Regal and Pontifical Power, saith Gelasius to Anastatius the Emperour. Power over all men is given to the Piety of my Lord the Emperour from Heaven, saith St. Greg. Lib. 2. Ep. 61. ad Mauritium. Do no prejudice to the Church of God, for the Church doth not prejudice the Empire; for our Lord hath divided the Powers, so as that Emperours and Kings want the Priestly Power, for their Eternal Life; and the High Priests want the Imperial Laws and Power, for the quiet course of the World, saith Nicholas in Epist. ad Michaelem. In the Patrimony of the Church, the Roman pastor is supreme, saith Innocent the 3d. but speaks of the King thus, Cum Rex Superiorem in Temporalibus neminem cognoscat, The King knows no superior in Temporal Affairs. Thus the Roman Pastours to the Emperours; all which is summed up by St. Bernard, as an Epistle to Conradius the Emperour, Legi, &c. Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers; which sentence I request the Emperour would observe, in giving reverence to the Vicar of St. Peter, as the Emperour would have reverence done to him from the whole Empire.  
Thirdly, The Roman Bishop or Postour hath no direct Jurisdiction, Jure divino, in Temporals, over either the secular Princes, or their Subjects: For Christs Government( whose Deputy the Roman pastor is Jure Divino) was only Spiritual, as is evident, John 6. For when the People would have chosen him their King, he fled from them, as from a Temptation, and was alone in the Mount. St. John spake of our Blessed Saviour, and his Doctrine: Nunc Princeps hujus mundi ejicitur foras, John 6. Now the Prince of this world, i.e. the Devil, is cast forth. Not Princeps hujus Regni, as the Practices of the Geneva Rebels would have it: No Prince cast out of his Kingdom by any of Christs Vicegerents in the Temporal Government. And that Text of St. John 18 36. Regnum meum non est de hoc mundo, is expounded by all the late Roman catholic Doctors, from St. Bonaventure to Bellarmine, as it was by St. Syril, St. Chrysostome, St. Augustine, i.e. from the Beginning, to this day, viz. That neither Christ, nor any for him, in his Church, hath any Temporal or secular Jurisdiction, but Spiritual only. And therefore we catholics call Heaven and Earth to witness our innocence, in the words of St. Augustine upon the Text, Audite ergo Judaei& Gentes, &c. Hear O Jews, hear O Gentiles, hear this all ye Kingdoms of the Earth! I hinder not your Government over this World: Fear not so vainly, as Herod did, who slay the Innocents; for my Kingdom is not of this World: Would ye more? Come to the Kingdom which is not of this World: Venite credendo;& nolite saevire metuendo. Wherefore St. Bernard reprehends some of the the Clergy in his time, 
Habent haec infima& terrena judices suos Reges& Principes terrae: quid fines alienos invaditis? In criminibus non in possessionibus potestas vestra  who were noughty in State matters, in these words: The affairs of this present World are moderated by Kings and Princes: Why do ye( who are Spiritual) transgress your limits, whose Power is over the Sins of the People, not over the Possessions of the Earth.  
Lastly, As for the Roman Pastours Indirect Power over Kings in ordine ad Spiritualia, by which the Sea apostolic in some rare Cases, hath, at the Request of all Christians, proceeded to Censure and Deprive Kings( a point so much talked of, and so little understood by the Reformed Divines) I leave that question to be decided by the two supreme Powers, when occasion shall be for it, which may not happen to the end of the World. It being a very rare Case( as Cardinal Alan, with other Roman Doctors observe upon the Declaratory sentence of pus Quintus against Queen Elizabeth) in which it were not better that such matters were wholly left till the Day of Judgement: Yea so far is this Sea apostolic from frequent Practices of that Nature upon Kings, of which the Reformed Churches are so guilty, that it is evident more Rebellions have been raised against Princes, for Religion only, in this last Reformed Age, in a few Protestant Countreys, than have been raised by catholics, for any cause whatever, in seven Ages before throughout all Christendom. And whereas this Indirect Power of the See apostolic is so much traduced, as derogatory from the Rights of Kings; The Histories of this last Confused Age do manifest, that even this Power is and hath been rather a Fortress to Princes against their Rebellious Subjects; Which Power of the apostolic See, if it had been accepted with the aids which Gregory the 13 tendered to the Archbishop of Glasco, for the Relief of King James, when he was first besieged by the Rebels at Striveling; no Presbyters, no Rebels had swarmed in our Land, like the Locusts and Lice in the Land of Egypt; nor had they, like so many Frogs, got into the Chambers of our Kings, to ruin them and their Kingdoms, and shane our Countries name in story for ever.  
As for the extravagant expressions of some catholic Doctors against the Dignity and Lives of Kings, it may suffice, that some of them, as Becanus and Mariana, are Censured, the latter being condemned for his seditious Position against Kings, by his whole Order at Paris, under Claudius Aquaviva, An. 1606. However catholic Princes know themselves enough secured against all Rebellion from their catholic Subjects, by the Definition of the Universal Church in her Council at Constance, Session 15. Nuper accepit sancta Synodus, &c. This holy Synod hath been lat ly informed, that certain erroneous Opinions are holden, contrary to the Peace and good State of the Commonwealth, viz. That a Tyrant may be lawfully and meritoriously taken away, and killed by any Subject or Vassal of his, Non obstante quocunque Juramento, &c. Notwithstanding whatever Oath of Fidelity or Allegiance that he hath made to him: Su h Doctrine is contrary both to Faith and Manners, and whosoever shall hold it pertinaciously, are heretics, and as such to be proceeded against according to the Canons.  
As for those petty objections made against our Loyalty from a Ravilliach, and from a few fiery Apostates here at home, who were all anathematized by the Roman Church,( except those two 
Gun-powder Plot.  who were not Traytors in design, but abhorred it.) K. James himself, in his Declaration upon that subject, graciously professeth his opinion of the generality of his catholic Subjects, in these words: That they did abhor such a detestable Conspiracy no less than himself. But for the Conspirators, their memories are odious to God, Angells, Saints, and all good catholics for ever; and therefore we hope they shall not prejudice those, whose Name, whose Faith, and whose Loyalty to Kings, was, is, and ever sha●l be catholic.  
Yet we have the same ill luck, as the good Christians in Tertullians dayes had, who were accused: Quod per genium Principis non dejerarent. We cannot take two Oaths, forsooth, of Supremacy and Allegiance; which, like Bell, and the Dragon, have devoured our Estates; the reason why, is not for want of Loyalty; but, to use Tertullians phrase, Quia non ludimus de Officio salutis Principum: We dare not injure the souls of Princes, in giving that Power up to Kings, which Christ gave to his Church; and in so doing, Temperamus Majestatem Caesaris infra Deum: We temper the spirit of our Kings to the Laws of God only. For, to use O●igens phrase, as far as the Laws of Christ allow us, we are ready to obey our Kings. Non usque insanimus; We are not so mad to exasperate our Kings against us, who have learned that of the Apostle, Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. We are not so in love with Confiscation of Estates, and Banishment: we take no pleasure to be haled to Prisons, to Torments, to the Racks, to Martyrdoms, to the Gallows: we rather( as others) are rationally pleased with Freedom, with Liberty, with the Enjoyment of our Estates, Gods Portion to us here on Earth, with the Preservation of Honours, Names, Inheritances to our Posterity; and hold it a high Privilege, to be in favour with, and to stand in the Courts of Kings; but ever, Quatenus salva pietate licet, as far as consists with our obedience to the God of Kings. And if a question of reserved right happen between God and our Kings, then we choose to adhere to God; but so, as not to forsake the King. We catholics herein do as the Christians in Iulians Army did, of whom St. Augustine spake: Distinguebant Dominum aeternum a Domino temporali;& tamen subditi erant propter Dominum aeternum Domino temporali: We are subject to our temporal Kings, for his sake who is the King of Kings; even then, when we choose to obey our eternal Master, before an earthly King. In proof whereof, we catholics, who of late, with others of his Majesties most loyal Subjects, followed David in all his troubles, 
Quando volebant ut Idola colerent, praeponebant illi Deum: quando dicebat producite aciem, item contra illam gentem, statim obtemperabant.  are and will be ever ready, as those Christians in Iulians Army; who, when the Emperour caused them to be brought before the Idols, then they acknowledged the God of Heaven: but when the Emperour commanded to draw out the Army against this or that Nation, then none so rea●y to obey as the Christians. So, if we be brought before the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, we aclowledge the God of Heaven: but if the King command, Producite aci●m, bring forth the Army against the Rebels, then, not a catholic from Dan to Beersheba, but will follow his King. Yet, notwithstanding all our Loyalty confessed, there are not wanting( I fear) those, who, like the Frogs in Pharaohs Chamber, are still cro●king in the Kings ears, as Haman to Ahasuerus( Chap. 3. Esther, 8. Verse) Est Populus, &c. There is a People dispersed throughout our Majesties Dominions, who have a new Religion, new Laws, inconsistent with the Kings 〈…〉  
But all holy catholics are pleased, if they may but sit down at the Kings gate, with poor Mordecai, and watch Bigthan and Thares, that no conspiracy be made any more against our Ahasuerus; and God in his good time, may be moved one day to hear the prayers, and consider the fasting of our virtuous Queen Esther, and the prayers and fasting of the devout catholics of this Land; and after an age of constancy to the apostolic Faith, and of singular fidelity to their Kings; our King may ask, as Ahasuerus did of Mordecai, whose fidelity was forgotten for along time: What shall be done to those whom the King will please to honour?  
Lastly, Since all the former points in controversy are cleared to be catholic Doctrines, as they are now taught and believed by Roman catholics: and this also of Obedience to Kings, and secular Magistrates, taught and believed by the generality of catholics, to be the practise of the Christians from the Beginning to this day: it remains, that as St. Augustine to the first and latter Donatists, so we address this Querela Catholica to the first and latter Divines of the Reformation, in St. Augustines question and complaint.  

Quare Vos Separastis?  
WHY did ye separate from the Church? this Church of all Nations? Your first answer is the same with the Donatists in St. Optatus: Querimini nescio quid esse commissum& nescimus quid ponunt supper altar: The Church of all Nations hath erred, but we are not yet agreed how or what the errors are; Th●y put upon the Altar, we know not what. But as St. Optatus to the African schismatics, so we to you: Hoc non queritur Gallia, &c. France, Spain, the Empire, do not complain: said operarii iniquitatis; Brethren in iniquity, then in Africa, as ye now, have wrought confusion in these distracted parts of christendom, and all, for, Ye know not what.  
For had so many Churches erred, saith Tertullian, they had varied from one another: but, Quod apud multos unum erat, non est erratum, said traditum: What ye found taught in so many ages, and believed in so many Churches, 
Tot originalia, instrument● Chr●sti, delere M●●c●o● au●us est: Exqu●oro te Authoritate? Si Propheta es, pronunti● aliquid: Si Apostolus, p●ed ca publ ce: Si Ap stol c●s, cum apostles senti: Si tantum Christianus es, creed quod Traditum est, R●s●●ndens q●●d c elidisti jam n●n credens pestidisti.  is no error, but Tradition. Why then did ye separate from so many Churches? so many Truths? so many Traditions? And as the same Tertullian pressed martion, so do catholics the Reformed Divines: By what authority have ye dissolved the original instruments of belief? if ye are Prophets, prophesy: if ye are Apostles, preach publicly to the whole world: if Apostolical men, agree with the Apostles: if ye be Christians, believe the traditions of the catholic Church.  
Quare vos separastis? Why did ye separate from all Churches in communion with the Roman pastor? You'l answer as the Pars Donati did: Because the Church of all Nations is not, but is perished: 
Apo●tatavit Ecclesia& pe●iit de omnibus G●ntibus.  Quia illa Ecclesia quae fuit omnium Gentium non est, said periit. So Donatus and Parmenian of old, so Luther and Calvin, and the Ministers of this Reformed age now, But as St. Augustine to those schismatics, so we to you: O impudent voice, the Church is not, 

O Impudentem Vocem, illa non est, quia tu in illa non es vide ne ideo tu non sis: n●m illa erit etiam si tu non sis.  
H●nc v●cem ●bho●●n●bilem& detestab●lem pr●●●m p●ionis& falsitat●s p●enam nulla veritate sull●lt●m nulla sap●●n●i● illuminatum nullo sale cond●●●m; va●●● temera●i●m p●●cip●tem, pe●●itiosam p●●vid●t Spi●itus Dei,& tanq●●● contra illos q●●● annunciaret uni●atem.  
In c●●veniendo po●ul ●i●●●unum,& Regn● ut serviant D●m●no.   is perished, because you are not in the Church; such presumptuous, false, foolish, rash schismatics did our Lord foresee, who would thus revile the Spouse of Christ; and yet he promised, as an eternal truth; That his people the Nations should be ever at unity, and Kingdoms to serve the Lord. And therefore the Father chargeth the Donatist: Quid est quod dicis? Why sayest thou, that the Church of all Nations is perished, is apostatised from the Faith? when the Gospel was therefore preached, that it might be in all Nations? And then concludes against the Donatists: Ergo usque ad finem Ecclesia in omnibus Gentibu●: Therefore to the end of the world the church shall and in all Nations, as it was prophesied of the Church of Christ; supper omnem terram gloria tua, Psal. 21. All the Kings of the earth shall adore him, and the Nations from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof shall serve him▪ My Name is glorified in th● Nations. But as the Donatists in their Cresconius, questioned then with the catholic Church▪ H●w could the Church be catholic, or the Church of all Nations, when the Church and Faith was never yet in all Nations? So the Questionists of our latter Reforming age do; to whom we answer as St. Augustine did: 
St. August. Lib. 3. ●… ntra Gaude●tium. ●… ntuendo residua Genti●m q●ae non●… lum occuparit Ecclesia: Quanta oc●… c paretit, unde a● 〈◇〉 ●esi●ia tenenda q●otidie d●ff n li●… r, non attendis.  Intuendo residua Gentium, &c. Ye look upon the Nations not yet converted, but do not mark how many Nations have been and are converted; and how the Church daily diffuseth itself into the Nations. In which respect the Church is catholic as it was in the Apostles Creed and time, before the conversion of any one Nation; because that Faith and that Church of the Apostles and their Successors, is and shall be ever active and ●ffective in the conversion of the Nations, till it possess the ends of the Earth. I ask then of the schismatics of this age, as St. Augustine did the Donatist: Cur huic Ecclesiae quae toto mundo crescendo dilatatur, non communicat Pars africa? Why doth Africa, or any part of the world, reject communion with that Church, whose Faith is daily increasing throughout the world? Can such a Faith, such a Church as this perish? Then, saith Tertullian, are s● many Instruments of the Christian Faith in vain; so many Preachings in vain; so many martyrdoms; so many Miracles in vain; so many Traditions of the blessed Apostles in vain; so many Scriptures in vain; Christianity and Christ himself in vain, if such a Church as this, so begun, so continued, so diffused over the Nations of the Earth, can fail to teach the Doctrines of Christ and his Apostles.  
But if the catholic Faith is perished from the Nations, and remains only with those of the Reformation; We then demand of you, as Tertullian of the Marci●nites: Qui estis vos? unde& quando venistis? ubi tam diu latuistis? Who are ye? whence came ye? what beginning? where lay ye hide so long? why appeared ye so late, as almost 16. ages after the Apostles, to Reform, that is, to disturb the catholic world?  
2ly. Did this Church of all Nations perish? then must ye answer St. Augustines question to Donatus: Unde ergo extitit origo Donati? ex quo mere, &c. Whence arose Donatus? what was his beginning? where was he Chatechized? where Baptized? where Ordained, when errors in Faith had corrupted the catholic Church of Christ? So we to this Reformed age: Where was your Patriarch Luther Chatechized? where Baptized? where Ordained? when the catholic Church of Christ erred in Fundamentals? For if your Apostle received Fundamental Truths of Scripture, and its expositions, for and from the authority of that Church, which at the same time taught Fundamental errors; whose soul at this day can be secure, that even where he thinks he embraceth Fundamental Truths, he doth not believe Fundamental errors?  
Quare vos separastis? Why did ye separate from the Church of all Nations, then in communion with the Roman pastor? Did ye separate for Fundamental errors? what Churches in the East, or elsewhere, were extant then, which did not err in fundamentals? If any such Churches were, which did not err, why did ye not unite to those Churches? and if all Churches were then in Fundamental error, then the Church failed, the Church perished; which is to give God the lie, saith St. Augustine, and to fall under all the anathemas of the Church of Christ.  
Why do ye perplex the brains of men with the distinction of Points Fundamental and not Fundamental? a Term, as novel and as e●●●● as your Faction; when as every Revelati God is formally Fundamental, if suffici●nc● pr●p●●ed and understood, and may not be di● b●●●●ve●▪ but for the affirmative precept of being ob●●ged to believe with an explicit Faith the p●●me m●t●●ial Objects of Faith, there is this difference, that such T●u●hs a●e necessary, and require actual Faith, when the opposite errors are destructive to salvation; yet even these also for number, are mo●● 〈◇〉 Fun●a●e●tal, as the evidence of credibility is propo●tioned to the divers capacities of men. Of all w●ich the catholic Church of Christ is the only Rich Tre●sury from whence these fundamentals are dispe●ced and explicated, after an unerring manner, throughout all ages past, and shall be to all ages to come, even to the worlds end.  
Quare vos separastis? If for fundamentals in the Church, whose communion ye left: then the visible Church of Christ perished; at which impudence in the first Donatists St. Augustine wondered: If for errors not Fundamental, then are ye schismatics: or why ●each ye such notorious contradictions, as, That ye believe the Churches in commumunion with the Roman pastor, erred only in Points not Fundamental, and yet declare it necessary to salvation, to reject her communion? For now your late Doctors are forced to confess; 
Po●te● P. 1●● ●l 5 P. 63.  That the Church of Nations in communion with the Roman pastor, is a true saving Church. Ye have declared to the world; That ye did not alter or depart from the substantials of that Church. That the Roman Church wanted no Essential. That the Religion of the Roman and Protestant is the same. That the most Necessary and Fundamental Truths, which constitute a Church, are on both sides unquestioned. 

T ylo● P 251. P. ●● P. 59 P. 60 75.  
●●ud P. 357 P 12● cit●d by K●●● agains●… C● lli● w●●●. Cap 7 P. 5●8. 571, 572. C●●ll ●●●●th. P. 1● S. 2●.   That ye left not the Roman church in her Essence, or in what constitutes a Church. That the Foundation of Faith stands sure in that Church. That the wis●st Person●dges have ever allowed salvation to those of that Church. In sum, as the learned Tichonius, St. Augustin●s pitty; Evigilavit tandem Tichonius & Ecclesiam toto●orbe diffusam videt: said quod consequenter illi videndum svit itaque homo absurdissimi cordis. So are ye awakened, and see, and confess the Church which is diffused through the world; and yet with all this learning and moderation, your most absurd Souls refuse to unite with the catholic Church of Christ.  
Why left ye this True, this saving Church of Christ, which erred only in points not fundamental? when a fallible Church can give you no security that she hath not taught you fundamental Errors? And if ye refuse Communion with the Roman Church for Errors not Fundamental, why hold you Communion with any National Church which cannot be free from Errors of the same kind? or why hold ye Communion with one another? And since we all are obliged not to forsake the Church in Fundamental points, how can any, without hazard to their Souls, leave her in any point, least that point prove Fundamental; since there is no Rule in a fallible Church to know what points are Fundamental, what not? But why did ye separate when her Errors were not damnable? for what? for fear ye should not be saved in that church in the profession of whose faith it was not possible to be damned? Why are ye not o●ly thus miserable, but also ridiculous to the Intelligent world of Christians? Did ye separate from the Roman Communion, because although she did not teach fundamental Errors, yet she imposed those as matters of faith, teaching for the Commands of God the Traditions of Men? If so, in this also the church failed, and the promise● of God are at an end: yet in prudence ye ought not to leave a Church that taught Errors Non-fundamental, for matter, unless ye could have united with another Church that at the same time taught all the fundamentals of Christianity. Why then left ye the Communion of the Church catholic? why left ye the Visibility of the present, and the Succession of 16 Ages? why left ye at once the Pastours of the Diffusive Church and the Representative, in her General councils? Upon what Authority did ye cast off such Authority? had ye Evidence from Scripture, or Demonstra●ion from Reason for your so doing? Strange it is, that Scripture, with all its Mysteries and Depths, should be evident to a National Church,& so obscure to the General councils& Churches of the World? and strange, that a fallible Church should have assurance for any thing but that it may sooner err, than the ecumenical Councils of all former ages: Why separate ye, either for Errors fundamental or not fundamental? when if the Authority of the Universal church be once dissolved, there can be no Demonstration what is fundamental, or not fundamental in Christianity, No Scripture, no Tradition can be declared either Rational, or Universal, or Divine any more; which in effect is the very Dissolution of the Faith of Christ.  
Quare Vos Separastis? Was it because the Roman Church and its Communion imposed a Necessity of professing known unfundamental errors, and the practise of known Corruptions? if the Church imposed the profession of errors in themselves not damnable, how was it possible for you to be damned in her Communion, when to profess such errors against Conscience had been to obey the Church, which teacheth, that in all reason a single Conscience ought to submit to public authority, when not to do so is to incur the Sacrilegious crime of Schism. Why did ye separate, when your more learned Doctors did prove themselves no schismatics by this only Argument, 
Dr. Po●tt●●  because they did not cut off from hope of Salvation those of the Roman Communion from whom they Separated? So that your fallible Church separated from the Church which had all Necessaries to Salvation, And then was there no Necessity to separate, i.e. ye were and are the Scismatiques of this latter Age.  
Lastly, Why did ye separate for errors in the Church of Christ, either fundamental, or not fundamental, or entrenching upon fundamental errors, or what you will, when not one of those supposed, even fundamental errors, but is by some learned Protestant taught to be a fundamental Tru●h? 
●… ee Bre●ely Apology.  So much for your irrational, your groundless separation from the Church of Christ in Communion, with the Roman pastor, for matters of Doctrine.  
Secondly, Why did ye separate from the Unity of Christendom.  
Quare Vos Separastis? You will answer as the latter Donatists: Propteria ne Malorum Communione periremus. We had otherwise perished in the Romish Corruptions and V●ces of those times. It was Parmenian the Donatist, that proved their schism from the catholic Church, to be just and Necessary, from Jeremy 23. Quid Pal●ae ad Triticum? And Macrobius the Donatist proved their schism from the Roman Communion of that Age to be Necessary, 

St● Aug. Ep. 25 Causa sepa●ation vestiae his solet 〈…〉 intellectis Testi●…niis gloriari Scriptum est, ne communices pec●…tis alienis. Conc●ssione voluntar quà deceptus est●…mo primus: non conversatione co●…p●ris quá& Juda●… osculatus est Chr●…stum.  
Prophetae non se unitate Populi cu●… peccata consi●eb ●tur corporali disjunctione separarunt.  
Prophetae omnes eundem Populun●… in quo erant, qua●…& quanta dixeru●… nec sibi tamen a●…rum Populum in quo ●ssent, disle●…one corporali ve●… segregatione q●… erunt.  
Ipsi Apostoli permix●um si●i Dialum Judam u●qu ad sinem quo se i laqueo p●rdidit s●… ull●●ui con●ami●…tion● tolerarunt.   from the 52 Chapter of Esaia. Exite in●e, immundum ne te●igeritis,& qui te●igerit immundum immundus est. Come ye forth, and touch not the Unlcean, As the Text of St. Paul, 2 Corin. 6.15. is made use of by the late Court Preacher, Come ye forth, and be ye separate. But St. Augustine silenced both those former and the latter schismatics, in his 255. Epist. viz. Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures: Ye ought to separate from the corrupt manners of the world, from the communion of the wicked in the consent of your will, in which the first man was deceived; but not to separate in your outward conversation: for our Lord conve●sed with Judas as a friend, even to take a kiss from that infernal traitor, whose wicked heart our Lord foresaw, when he spake, Mat. 27. Et vos mundi, said non omnes: Ye are clean, but not all. And the Prophets in the Old Testament, what judgements did they denounce against that Idolatrous, and stiffnecked People, yet they separated not from that People, nor from their High Priest: but lived and died in their Communion; as the Apostles lived with Judas the Devil to the day of his death, saith St. Augustine. And then answers this question; Quare vos separastis? 

St. Aug.  
Nulla ●atio fuit said ●… aximi furor q odd ●… sti v●●it communio●… em mal●●um c●●… an e●s● ab unitate Ch●●stiq●ae o●o ●●●… e diffundi●ur sepa●… runt.   Nulla ratio fuit said maximus furor: It was no less than a spiritu●l frenzy, to separate from the unity of Christ, and his catholic Church, for the sins of the wicked.  
And the same Father observes of St. Cyprian, that living at Carthadge with those African sinners, notorious for oppression, avarice, &c. Cum eis A●tare tetigit: he refrained not to serve God at one and the same Altar with them. said immundam illorum vitam non tetigit: 

Cyprian.  
Nam si videntur Zizania esie in Ec●… lesia non tamen ●… mpediti debet aut Fides aut Charitas ●… ostra, ut quoniam ●… n Ecclesia Zizania ●… ernimus ipsi de Ec●… lesia recedamus.   He communicated not with them in their crimes. The same St. Cyprian, that Filius pacis Ecclesiae, as St. Augustine styles him, gave this charge to all Christians: If there happen to be Tares in the Church of Christ, we may not lessen our own faith and charity so far, as therefore to desert the Church of Christ. Therefore St. Augustine advised every schismatic then and for ever to imitate St. Cyprians zeal to unity, not to separate for the corruptions of the Church. Audi Cyprianum & tolera Zizania: And that for four Reasons given to us by the same Father.  


〈…〉. Quia per sediti●… nem Schismatis ●… rius a Bonis spirita●… iter quam a Malis ●… orporaliter sepa●… antur.  
〈…〉. Q●ia Consilia se●… rationis plus per●… rbant infirmos bo●… as quam corrigunt ●… nimosos malos.   1. Because by the sedition of Schism we separate spiritually from the good, before we separate from the wicked, in our conversation.  
2. By separation from the Church for corruption in manners, we rather disturb the weak and virtuous Christians, than correct the perverse and wicked.  
3. If all that are holy and religious should desert the communion of the wicked, there were then no means left to reduce the unsound Christians to a holy life again, either by counsel or examples,  
4. Those who at first name themselves( as the Donatist● did) Purgata m●ssa, viz. 
Africa electa e●t, ubi purgata massa consisteret.  The pure Reformed Christians, it will not be long ere the question be asked of them as St. Aug●stine of the Donat●sts: 

St. Aug. L●b. 3 contra Epist. Pa●m. Cap 3.  
Unde ergo tant●… greges Circumc●llionem undae tantae turbae convi●um Eb●iosotum?& innupta●um said non inc●rrupta●um innumerabilia stupta faeminarum? unde tanta turba ra●torum av●rorum fae●erato●um an& hoc T●it●c●m est? vae impuden●ssi●ae● negationi, si apud se ita non ell; vae 〈…〉 sceleratissim● perve●sitati si s●um●nta esse responderint.   Unde ergo tanti greges Circumcellionum? &c. Whence are so many Rebells, so many Cut throats so many Gluttons, Drunkards, Harlots, Robbers, Covetous Usurers, as never before defiled the christian name? In short, as St. Augustine advised all Christians, not to make a schism from the one Church of Christ for the corruptions of men; Audi Cyprianum, Here St. Cyprian, and endure the Tares. So I exhort every schismatic, Audi Augustinum, Here St. Augustine, Whoever separates from the communion of the Church of all Nations for corruptions in the catholic Church, Ante tempus litoris damnabiliter separant, they incur damnation for such crimes against the unity of Christians.  
Quare vos separastis? The actual departure was ours of the late Reformation, the causal was from those of the Roman communion; Even so distinguished the Donatists Parmenian and Petilian, whom St. Augustine confounded then, as we do all schismatics, by 3. eternal maxims in the Church of God.  
1. Praecidendae unitatis nulla est necessitas: 
L●b, 2. contra ●●rmen, Cap. 11.  There can be no reason to divide the unity of the Church.  
2. Certi sumus, &c. We are certain no man can justly separate himself from the communion of all Nations.  

Ep. 48.  3. Totus orbis, &c. All the world doth securely judge those not to be good Christians, in what corner of the Faith soever, who separate from the whole world.  
Lastly, Quare vos separastis? You'l say as the latter Donatists did: We are not so separated, but we still agree in fundamentals: our difference is in Accidentalls only; we are both true Churches. So spake Cresconius the Donatist to St. Augustine: Nobis& vobis unam esse Religiosem; eadem Sacramenta: We are of the same Religion▪ we enjoy the same Sacraments with you. To whom we reply with St. Augustine. Christiana Ecclesia caretis, Christianam Charitatem non habentes: ye have no Christian Church, for yet have no Christian Charity. There can be but one catholic Church of Christ, one Communion. It is a Principle in St. Augustines and St. Cyprians Faith, and of all the holy and wise Christians from the Beginning.  

Si nostra Communio est Ecclesia Christi v●stra Communo non est.  If our Communion be the Church of Christ, your Communionis not the Church of Christ, said St. Cyprian to the Novatian Scismatiques, and St. Augustine is more positive, Non possunt tot Ecclesiae esse quot Scismata, It is impossible th●re should be as many Churches as Schisms: The Church of Christ is one. Una est columba mea, Canticles 6. Of such a Body is the Apostles saying true: Vos estis corpus Christi& membra de membro, 1 Corinth. 10. Ye who are true Christians are members of the same Body, united to your Head Christ Jesus. Let us grow up together in him, saith the Apostle. Ex quo totum corpus compactum est per omnem juncturam subministrationis, Eph▪ 4. The Pastours of Gods Church were see over us by Christ, Ut omnes in unitatem fidei occurramus. Be ye perfect in the same sense, in the same Faith, that there be no schism in the Body; for God is not the Author of dissension, but of peace: as I teach in all the Churches of the Saints, Eph. 4. Our Sacraments were instituted to the same end. Our Sacrament of Baptism; We are all baptized into one Body, saith the Apostle. 
Inuno spi●itu omnes nos in un●m Corpus B●p zati. Omnes uno Corpus qui de uno Pa●em participamus.  The Sacrament of the Altar; We are all one Body, who communicate of one B●ead. Heaven and Earth call out to us for one Church, or none at all. God, Angells, Saints, and all holy and rational men, exhort us to catholic Unity, as the Fundamental of all fundamentals; necessary both for the salvation of souls, and the peace of our Christian Kings and their Kingdoms.  
Say not then among yourselves, as the Jews of old, We have Abraham to our Father: 

Lib. de u●ico Bap●ismo co●tra Petil●anu● C●p. 10.  
Ecce invenimus eandem de Deo fidem extra Ecclesiam non solum hones ve um etiam daemons co●●●eri,   Ours is the Law and the Promises. We have still the same Faith of Christ, even in the state of separation: For we find, saith St. Augustine, that not only Men, who are out of the Church of Christ, but also Devils have the same Faith concerning God, which catholics have And yet, to speak more properly with the ancients, schismatics and heretics are but Tertullians Partiarii Fidei: Hereses de nostro fructificaverunt non nostrae: degeneres veritatis grano& mendacio Sylvestres. Half Christians, retaining some Articles of Faith, which they carried with them out of the catholic Church: bu● their Faith is a degenerated Faith, and they but a sort of wild Christians, whom our Heavenly pla●ted not. Of whom St. Ambrose is bold to say,' They are in truth no Christians; 

St. Ambrose.  
Fides non est in Schi●ma●e.  
Non videtur exhiberi, ab his Christo F●des, a quibus exac●●ba●m ejus passio Co●pasque distrahitur.   That they have no saving Faith at all, who live not in the catholic communion. Fides non est in Scismate: For how can they believe in Christ their Head, whose body they rend in pieces, saith St. Ambrose.  
Talk not then so vainly in your Reformed Churches, of your sufficiency of fundamentals, Sacraments, Creeds, they all do but further your condemnation. What saith St. Augustine, doth sound Faith, 
St. August. Lib. 1. contra Donat. Cap. 9. Quid prod●st homini vel sana Fides tel sanum fortasse Fidei Fundamentum ubi Lethali vulnere Scismatis perempta est Sanitas Charitatis? per cujus solius peremptionem etiam illa integ●e trahuntur ad mortem. Lib. 1. contra Donat. Cap. 13. Omnia quip Sacramenta Christi non ad salutem said ad judicium habentur sine Charitate unitatis Christi. Lib. de Ge●●is Emeriti Donatistae, Dei est quod habent, Patris& Filii& Spiritus Sancti: Baptismus Trinitatis Dei est Evangelium quod habent: Dei est Fides quam habent:& quid non habent, dicet aliquis qui haec habent? Audi Apostolum; Si omnia scivero Sac amerta: on nem habeam Fidem, Charitatem autem non habeam. Nihil sum; non dixit illa omnia n hil sunt said nihil sum si Charitatem non habeam. Quis deme●s d●ceret nihil sunt Dei Sacramenta▪ Quis demens diceret n●hil est Prophezia? nihil Scientia? nihil F de? Non illa nihil sunt, said cum illa magna sunt ego magna habens si Charitatem non habeam, nihil sum. Quare unam Ecclesiam non possidemus? unum signum hab●mus: quare uno ovili non sumus? ideo te quaero ut Sacramentum sit tibi in salut●s adjutorum, non in damnationis Testimonium. Ideo te quaero ut non pe●eas cum ●igno. Probasti te habere Sacramentum: probasti mihi te habere Fidem: proba mihi ●a●d ●abea● Charitatem: Tene unitatem, nolo mihi dicos habeo Charitatem.  or holy Sacraments avail a man, whose soul is wounded and cut off by the deadly stroke of Schism from charity? All Sacraments without the charity of unity of Christ, are had not to your salvation, but to your judgement. We well know, with St. Augustine; That what good things schismatics have are Gods: Their Baptism in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is Gods; the Gospel which they have is Gods; the Faith which they profess is Gods. Et quid non habent, dicet aliquis, qui haec habent? saith the Father: What do they want, who have all these good things? But hear the Apostle: If I have all Mysteries, if I have all Faith, and have not Charity, I am nothing. He doth not say those things are nothing, but I am nothing if I have not Charity: Who dare say the Sacraments are nothing, prophesy is nothing, Science is nothing, Faith is nothing; those are not nothing: but although I have all th●se great things, yet if I have not Charity, I am nothing. Thou dost prove to me thou hast Faith, prove to me thou hast Charity: tell not me thou hast Charity, unless thou hast Unity.  
We who are Members of that one catholic Church, united under one pastor( as St. Augustine was in his age) allow you, as he did the Donatists, to have many great things, to teach many good things Potest tradere separatus, sicut potest habere separatus. A schismatic may have, and may teach good Doctrines, deliver good Sacraments: but as he hath them to his own confusion, so he teacheth them also to the damnation of others.  
Of you and your fundamentals therefore, we affirm as much, as St. Augustine of the Donatists: Nobiscum estis, 
〈…〉. 2. Contra Cres●…. Gramaticum.  &c. Ye are with us in Baptism, ye are with us in the Creeds, ye are with us in the Sacraments: but in the spirit of unity, and in the bond of peace ye are not with us; in the catholic Church ye are not with us. And, upon the 54th. Psalm: In multis erant mecum, &c. We were baptized, in that they were with me; we red the Gospel, in that they were with me; we celebrated the Feasts of Martyrs, in that they were with me; we kept together the solemnity of Easter, in that they were with me: but they were not in all things with me; in Schism not with me, in heresy not with me: in many things with me, in a few things not with me; but in that, in these few things they were not with me, these many things profit not to salvation, in which they were with me.  
In fine, St. Augustine is resolute in this Point; That no Christian, 

〈…〉. 3. adversus Pe●… anum.  
●… mnia quip Sa●… menta non ad sa●… m said ad jud●ci●… habentur sine ●… arltata unitatis ●… hristi.   although he hath Creeds, Sacraments, &c. and what the late schismatics name fundamentals, can be saved living and dying out of the communion of the catholic Church. All may be had out of the catholic Church but salvation: a schismatic may have Sacraments, he may sing Hallelujahs, he may answer Amen, he may have the Gospel, he may believe in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and preach the Faith: but no where can he find salvation, but in the catholic Church of Christ.  
Therefore, in a pious compassion to your souls, as St. Augustine to Emeritus: Ideo te quaero ut non pereas cum signo. So we: Ideo vos quaerimus, ne pereatis cum signo: We seek you, lest you perish with the signs of salvation upon you.  
I end this with another passage of St. Augustine upon Cornelius, whose prayers were heard, and whose alms came before God; and therefore, saith the Father, deserved the assistance of an Angel, who was able to teach him all things necessary to salvation: but that was not Gods way to save Cornelius, or any other; but because what good was in Cornelius his prayers and alms could not save him, unless he were incorporated into the body of the Church of Christ, by the bond of christian society and peace; therefore he is commanded to sand to St. Peter, and St. Paul, he learns Christ of them, is baptized, is joined in communion to the christian people, with whom he was joined before, but in the likeness of good works: and had he contemned the good which he had not, bearing himself bold upon the good he had, he had perished, notwithstanding he was so far in the way to Heaven. So if the late schismatics, who live apart from the society of the body of Christs Church, and name themselves a part of the catholic Church, because they retain the Creeds, the Sacraments, and other good things which they learned of the catholic Church; and some of them full of good works, and alms deeds: Nay, although they pretend they have an Angel, a private Spirit, which sheweth them a new& easier way to Heaven: yet unless they do as Cornelius did, trust neither to a moral virtuous life, nor to their Sacraments, or fundamentals, nor to their own conduct, no nor to the conduct of an Angel, if he led not to Unity, i.e. to St. Peter, to his Successor, to the Church committed to his care, to the catholic Church in communion with that pastor, they are aliens from the covenant of grace, and hope of the Kingdom of Heaven.  
This is the Doctrine of St. Augustine, in the point of Schism; That no Sacraments, no Divine Truths, can prevail to salvation, without the piety of Unity: And not his Doctrine only, but as himself declares, it was a tradition of his ancestors, of the catholic Church, from the Beginning.  
Quare vos separastis? I ask those now who would be thought moderate towards the Church in communion with the Roman Bishop, Christs Deputy here on Earth; Why did ye make two Churches? Nothing can be so ugly in the sight of Heaven, as( to speak in St. Augustines phrase) Corpus Christi Bipartitum: Two Bodies, and one Christ, one Head; however ye would lessen this crime of Schism, and cast it on the first Reformers, by saying as the Jews did in another case: Had we lived in those dayes, we had not slain the Prophets: Yet were as guilty, for they beautified the sepulchres of their Fathers that did so. So, of you is true, what St. Optatus spake of the Rigid, and Moderate, or Latter Donatists: They first broke christian peace, 
Hii ruperunt pacem in suis temporibus,& vos terminatis unitatem.  and you make an end of unity. Who with a few subtle Socinian Evasions to justify your Schism, do but more cunningly adorn your fore-Fathers crime.  
Leave then, after an age of sinning, this detestable crime of Schism, or quit the christian name: offer no longer violence to the great Mysteries of our Re●emption, by perplexing thus the souls of thousands, who know not now the right hand from the left in matters of Religion; being miserable confounded, and confounding one another, both in our secular peace here, and our eternal peace hereafter.  
For your secular then, and your eternal safety sake, retire into catholic Unity again. I exho●t both Clergy and People, who are now in these Reformed dayes as much distracted in matters of Religion, as they were in Africa; as St. Augustine of those schismatics: How many Men, 
For Cap●ta, 〈◇〉 Homines: t●r ●●●●g n●s, quot Sec●ae tot M●●ces, q●o● Adultera.  so many Opinions: how many Congregations, so many adulterate Churches and Religions: how many Sects, so many Beginnings: When Schism itself is so ridiculous, that we may truly say almost of every single schismatic, as St. Jerome of the schismatics of his time. Tu solus Ecclesiaes: Thou alone art a Church.  
Confess at length against yourselves Tertullians maxim: Regula Fidei una est omnino, sola immobilis& irreformabilis: The rule of our Faith is one, is immovable, is irreformable for ever▪ For if once the catholic Faith be questioned and Reformed by a less Authority than that by which it was taught all the earth over, it must follow by necessary consequence, that a less Authority may and will Reform the first Reformers, and so, Quotidie emendant Evangelia, dum vitiant: Will always be mending one Article of Faith after another, till they have Reformed all Christianity away, and resolved Faith itself into Infidelity and Atheism.  
The Fahers of old, and the holy and learned of all ages, have spent their Rhetorical Invectives no where so much as against this Crime of Schism. It is a sin full as cruel to the body of Christs Church, as that of the Jews was, 
St. Cyp●ian de Unitate.  when they crucified our Lord the Head thereof. Schism is such an offence, saith St. Cyprian, that those who are guilty of it, although afterwards they shall be drawn to torments and death for the Name of Christ, yet the pollution of that sin is not washed away, no not with their blood.  
St. Augustine and St. Optatus give the Reasons anon est in Scismate Fraternum odium, saith St. Augustine, Doth not every schismatic hate his Neighbour? What reason else hath a schismatic▪ when he consents with the catholic in all those fundamentals that led to Heaven, not to serve that one God and Christ with the same Faith, at the same Altar, in the same Temple, with the same Liturgies and Devotions that the One Militant catholic Church of Christ useth in her way to Heaven?  
2. It is a sin next to that of Idolatry, saith St. Optatus,& ranked by the Jews in the head of the Commandements: Ye shall not worship strange Gods, 
In Capite M●ndatorum, non coals Deos a●ienos, non Scisma facies.  ye shall not make a Schism. For if once ye separate from the first worship, ye will fall to worship Calves instead of God, as Jeroboam and the 10. Tribes did: or, which is in effect the same, your own Imaginations. For these causes, Schism was name by St. Augustine; 
Nefanda Di●emptio nefanda Elatio, s●●lus Scismatis, sacril●g●s tumour, sacrilega Separatio, Seditio Scismatis, Diabolica P●aesumptio.  The Crime of Schism, a wicked Separation, a sacriledgious swelling against Christ and his Church, a spiritual Sedition in the Church, a Presumption like that of the first Angells; Whose pretensions are to be like the most High, but in their fall become the worst of Devils. In short, it is with St. Optatus: Summum malum: The greatest sin a Christian can co●●it against the Monarchy of Christ; it is no less than the ru●●●●nd desolation of his Kingdom. 
Regnum divi●um c●●●ra se non sta●●, said D●●ola●itu●.  Matth. 12. A Kingdom divided against itself, cannot stand, but will be desolate.  
For Schism alone, being ever a Rebellion of a part of Christians against the whole or body of the Church, subverts at once all the motives which convert the wise men of the world to, and confirm them in Christianity. All St. Augustines motives: Tenet me, &c. The Consent of Nations, the Universality of the Church, the Name catholic, the Succes●ion of Pastours in the Roman Chair; These keep me, saith St. Augustine. And these alone are able to keep the wiser world in Obedience to the Christian Faith; but all these perish where schismatics break off from Charity, from Unity, from Universality, from Antiquity, from Consent, from Succession, the very Nerves, Soul and Life of Christianity. And in place of these famous Motives to the Christian Faith, nothing is left among schismatics, but Novelty, Discord, Disorder, Noise, Tumults, Disputes, Confusion to the Laws of Nature and Christianity, even to the ruin of Families, Kings and Kingdoms here, and the eternal perdition of souls in the next world.  
So great a sin was Schism in Gods sight, that in the beginning of the world he punished it no common way. Murder was pardonned in the first Offender Cain; the Idolaters of Ninive were pardonned: but Corah, Dathan and Ab●ram, the first schismatics, found no mercy; the Earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them into bowels; and because they were not fit to live, they were not allowed to die; and left their sudden death might seem a kindness, they were buried before they were dead although, their religion was still the same which Moses& Aaron taught them, yet because they congregated apart, they dyed not the common death of other men. Negatum est subductum est paenitentiae tempus, saith St. Optatus, quia non talis erat culpa quae veniam mereretur. There was no time allowed for Repentance, because the sin of schism is so great, it deserved no pardon. Mandata est terrae fames, dum non essent digni vivere, iis nec mori concessumest.  
To schismatics is applied that Text in the 54th. Psalm: Veniet mors supper eos& descendunt vivi in infernum: Death shall come upon them; Meaning the people, upon whom fire came down from Heaven, and consumed them, saith St Augustiine; and they shall descend quick into Hell. Quid est viventes scientes quia pereunt& tamen pereuntes: The Priests who know they perish if they live not within the Church, and yet will perish; these Priests, Descendunt viventes, quia ipsi Scripturas tractant, &c. Descend into Hell, saith St. Augustine, because they handled the Scriptures, and by reading them every day, knew well the catholic Church was that which was so diffused over the whole Earth, that nothing can be said against it.  
Lastly, To end this catholic complaint against all the separate Churches from the Church of Nations; I demand, in compassion to mistaken souls, as St. Augustine did of the Donatists: Quo itis miseri? quid agitis? vos ipsos fugite: O miserable Christians, whither are ye going? What do you? If ye see a man weltering in his blood, how many eyes of pity are fixed on him? but no man pities the souls of thousands that live and die in the sacrilege of Schism; because the torments of the souls are n●t seen, no man layeth the matter to heart. And which is more sad( saith St. Augustine) the Authors of so many eternal deaths, dispute, wrangle, triumph, glory in their own and the peoples confusion. So long have these disputes held, that no man now( except those whom the catholic Faith supports) knows how, where, and in what Faith to secure and quiet his perplexed soul,  
Just as it was in Africa, so is it now in this last and worst age of Schism, where men may be said rather to be distracted in Religion than divided. Where some would be catholics were it not for Friends, Relations, and worldly interests: others choose to adhaere not to truth, but to a long custom in error. Many now( as the Africans believed the Pars Donati to be the true Church) so they are contented rather to sit down in heresy and schism, than take the least pains to understand where and which are the catholic Truths; and as the Africans then lived and dyed with the Pars Donati, because they were born there: so these who have but the name of Christians, lived and die in the Religion of the place where they were born. Others had quitted their Schism long ago, had not false reports hindered them, viz. That we put upon the Altar they know not what. And many there are now, as then in Africa, who seeing the difference betwixt the learned of both Churches, hold it very indifferent in which of the two Churches they be Christians. But catholics now( as then in Africa) give God thanks, who hath gathered them from Division, and taught them that the one God will be worshipped in Unity. Thus St. Augustine spake word for word prophetically of these our times.  
Quo itis miseri? quid agitis? fugite vos ipsos: Whither go ye from the catholic Church? why are ye the scorn of Heathens, and the shane of the Christian world? why do ye deny God the Provinces of the East and North, and the Christians of innumerable Islands; against whom ye alone( who are but a few) rebel; and with whom ye hold no communion? what mean ye to make war against the merits of our Saviour? permit the Son to enjoy his Legacies: 
St. Aug Lib. de Unit. Eccl. Cap. 8.  permit the Father to full●●l his Promises. Why place ye bounds, why appoint ye limits? why do ye preach Christ exalted above the Heavens, and do not communicate with his glory upon all the Earth.  
Return home again to your Mother Church, to St. Cyprians Church of unity, that one Church so copious in issue, 
St. Cy●●. Lib, de Unicat. Eccles.  by whose increase ye were born, by whose milk ye were first nourished, by whose spirit ye were animated; which Church preserveth us in God, and advanceth all her children to the Kingdom of Heaven.  
Return home to that Church of Vicentius Lyrinensis, in which Posterity ever understands what Antiquity hath adored. A Church that teacheth no new Faith, but explicates the old more clearly against emergent Heresies: A Church whose Doctrines of Faith are strengthened by years enlarged by time, advanced by age, yet in their essence and nature ●nchangeable, incorruptible for ever. A Church adorned with the light of our Lord, which stretcheth her beams through the world saith St. Cyprian. A Church which is as a Mountain, not confined to one part of the Earth, 
St. Aug. de V●●t. Ecclesi●e C●p. 25.  but is every where most known, as St. Augustine describes the true Church. A Church placed in the light of Nations, unto which all Nations shall flow, as to the Temple of a King, as to a Tabernacle seated in the Sun. A Church to which the strength of the Gentiles and their Kings shall be brought, Esay 60. V. 11. A Church whose seed is like the Stars of Heaven, and like the sands of the Sea: A Church dilated from East to West, from South to North, Esay 61. A Church that is not here to day, and to morrow vanished, as the Churches of heretics; but such an one as is an everlasting Kingdom, Dan. 17. A Church with which God hath made a league of peace for ever, an everlasting covenant, Ezek. 37. A Church with whose Pastours God is present, and will be to the consummation of the world; Mat. 28. A Church built upon the Rock against which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail, Mat. 16. V. 18. A Church which the Scripture itself sheweth to us, so as we may not doubt which is the true Church, and which in all obscure questions we ought to consult, 

●… t. Aug. ●ib. contr ●… rescon. ●ap. 33.  
〈…〉 Lactant. ●… ib. 4. ●… vin In●…. Cap.   saith St. Augustine. A Church, the catholic Church, which alone hath the true worship and service of God, which alone is the well-spring of truth, the dwelling place of faith, the Temple of God, into which whosoever entereth not, and from which whosoever departeth, is without all hope of life and eternal salvation, saith Lactantius.  
Return back again to this catholic Church; from which whosoever is divided, how laudably soever he seem to live, for this only crime, that he is separated from the unity of that Church, he shall be excluded from life, and the wrath of God shall remain upon him, saith St. Augustine. Desert then the petty late born Churches, and repair to the Church of Nations: a Church that is diffused over Spain, Italy, France, where you are not: Hungary, the most parts of the Empire, the Indies, China and Tartary, where you are not: over innumerable Islands and Provinces, where you are not. Where else is the propriey of the name catholic retained, which is so termed, because it is national, and every where diffused, saith St. Optatus.  
Return home then from a Church, or rather from St. Jeromes Synagogue of Confusion, as it is at this day, to a Church glorious for Miracles, famous for Consent of Nations, and perpetual Succession, admirable in propagation and increase of Christian Faith, power of Doctrine, conversion of Souls, confusion of heretics, change of Manners, fortitude of Martyrs, Antiquity, Sanctity and Unity, that is, to Venerable beads Roman catholic Church. A Church whose Head was ever the Roman pastor. 
Cypr. Ep. 55.  There is the Chair of St. Peter to this day. That is St. Cyprians principal Church, where Priestly Unity had her Beginning. That is the Church, whose Priests and Bishops are so numerous, and so united, 

St. Cy●r●an L●b. ● Epist. 13.  
Copiosu● est Copus Sace●dotum 〈…〉 Episcoporum Concord●ae glutino atque unitatis vincul c●pulatum east; ut ex Collegio nostr Hae●esim facere. ●…gregem Chr●sti Lacerare& vastatentaverit subveniant cae●eri.  
St. Optatus.  
Omnium Apostolorum Capiti Petr Episcoporum Cathedram primo c●lla●am ne caeteri Ap●stoli sibi singula qusque defende●●t, St. J roms.  
St. ●y ad D●na●… sum Popar●.  
●… titudini me●le, ●… head e P t i, ●… unum ac c●n●●… supper illam Pe●… ordnientam Ec●… am. Qui●… queen ●atia hanc ●… tiam agnum c●●… der●t p●●●n.   that heretics and schismatics in vain attempt to divide and destroy the flock of Christ: There is the Chair of St. Peter, and the principal Church, where the unity of Priests first had its Beginning, saith the same Father. Who ever gathers a Church apart from that Chair, scatters the flock of Christ, saith the same St. Cyprian, Lib. 1 Epist. 8. Our Lord therefore gave the Episcopal Chair to St. Peter, lest the other Apostles should make to themselves so many Chairs; so that now he is a schismatic, that erects a Chair against that single Chair, sa●●h St. Optatus,  
Return home and be joined to St. Jeromes Cathedra Petri, to St. Peters Chair; for whoever gathers not with St. Peters Successors ( i.e. is a Member of the Roman Church,) scatters the flock, is a Schsmatique; and whoever eats the Lamb, i.e. the Sacrament of his Body, out of that flock, is a profane person.  
He that communicates with the Churches of the whole world, 
●… nque recum ●… c●lligic spa●g●●, ●…, Ch●●sti non est ●… t●ch● illi est.  and that pastor, per Literas formatas, by formed Letters, he is a catholic: who doth not so communicate, is a schismatic, saith Optatus, Lib. 2. contra Parmenianum. 

●… j●● Scisma●icu●…, qu● con●●a ●●n●… larem Cathe●… m alteram collo●… net.  
〈…〉. 2. co●●ra Par●… ni●●um.   Be not ashamed to renounce this Spiritual Sedition, when as the Greek schismatics have done it ten times, forced to it by the evidence of Church Tradition; that all Patriarcks, Arch-Bishops and Doctors, who are not in Roman communi●n, are schismatics by the common sentence of all sober Christians.  
Return home then, as the Greek Patriarks, and other schismatics have often done, to the Roman pastor and Communion, as to the most safe Port or Haven of your Souls, as St. Jerome styles that pastor, Epist. 16. That is the Church, saith St. Cyprian, whose Faith cannot be changed. Ep. 3. Lib. 1. It is the School of the Apostles, and the Metropolis of Piety Zozom. Lib. 3. Cap. 7. That is the Church that preserves the Apostles Creed: i.e. the Christian Faith safe from error, saith St. Ambrose. 
Amrose Ep. 81.  In the Church of the Roman City, no heresy ever began, 
●… ffun. in Symb●io. ●… sis nullam Ec●… sia urbis Romae ●… psis exordium.  and the ancient custom is there observed, saith Ruffinus. That is the Church of which St. Greg. Nazianz spake; That old Rome hath from ancient times the right Faith, and always keepeth it, as it becometh the City which over ruleth the world, always to believe rightly in God. The Roman Church is that of which Theodoret spake; 
Theodoret ad R●n ●um Pres●yterum. Romana seeds se●per Haeretici faeto● expe●s prem●r si●.  This holy See holdeth the Stern of Government over all the Churches, as for other causes, so for that it hath ever been free from the filth of heresy. When ye come thither, you will then remember the first Faith, 

St. Jerome in Ap● 3. Adversus R●ssinum.  
Fidem R●man● neq te praestig●as recip●re, neq●e mu●●●i posle.   the Roman Faith, which cannot be deceived, neither can it be changed, saith St. Jerome. All other Churches, and their Religions, are ruinous, without any stability, order, or continuance: only that Roman Church is permanent, which our Lord hath laid in the Foundation, saith St. lo. Thither when by Gods grace ye are come, all the errors of your Understanding, about the Real Presence, Invocation of Saints, Prayers for the De●d, Liturgies in a common Tongue, Confession, Satisfaction, Indulgencies, Church Traditions, Supremacy of the Roman pastor; all these will vanish, at the sight of that Faith, as clouds before the Sun; when the Doctrines, as they are taught, de fide, in that Church, are cleared from the mistakes of Doctors, who imagine the Roman Church to teach Doctrines, as de fide, which she doth not teach; and then( as all heretics do) bark about that Chair, but in vain: as St. Augustine confesseth that himself did before his conversion. But there, in that Church only( as St. Thomas Aquinas saith; 

〈…〉 r●●●● ad ●nnot. ep. 2. Ep. 100. ●… gnum man●que ●… ittor, Ibi potissi●… res●rveri dam●… lei, ub● non posset ●… c●senti●● defect●….  
●… vid Ps lmus A●●… stinii contra par●… Donati.  
●… id illi prodest ●… ma, si non vivit ●… Radice.  
●… nite Fratres, si ●… ci●, ut inse●amini ●… vite.  
●… merate Sacerdo●… vel ab ipsa Petri ●… de.  
●… in ordine illo Pa●… m qu●s cvi Suc●… lit videte.  
●… a est Petra quam ●… vincunt superbae ●… erorum Por●ae.  
●… gust. Epist. 165. 〈…〉 L●teras cu●usdam ●… atistae.  
〈…〉 illum autem Or●… em Episcoporum ●… dull ducitur ab ●… o Petro usque ad ●… astatium, qui ●… n● candem Ca●… dram Sedet, cri●… si quisquam T●aditor, per illi tempora surrepsisset nihil p●ejudicaret Ecclesiae& innocentibus Chri●… nis, quibus Dominus Providens, ait de propositis malis, M●●th. 23. Q●ae dic●nt facite, quae autem ●… iunt facere nolite, dicunt enim& non taciunt: ut certa sp●s sit Fidelibus, quae non in homine said in ●… mino collocata, nunquam Tempestate Sacrilegi Scismatis d●ssipetur.   Only the Church of Peter hath been firm in the Faith) may ye repair your decayed, your lost Faiths, saith St. Bernard.  
I conclude therfore with the Exhortation of S. Aug. in his Psalm to the Donatists: What will the outside or name of a Christian avail, if ye live not in the root? Come, my Brethren, and be engrafted into the Vine: it grieves us to see you cut off from catholic communion. Number the Priests from St. Peters Seat; That is the Rock against which the proud Gates of Hell cannot prevail: And be not scandalised, if at any time, a Traditor, an evil pastor, shall enter into that succession of Bishops, for he shall not prejudice the Church, and innocent Christians, to whom our Lord saith, Do what they say, not what they do, Matth 23. So that our hope is in the Lord, that whosoever is joined in communion with that pastor, his Sou● cannot perish in the Tempest of a Sacrilegiou● Schism.   
FINIS.