Dialogue Wherein a Romish Rhyme is Confuted, Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
UNITIE.Chrysost. Homil. 46, in Matth. Hee goeth not out of the Church, who goeth out bodilie; but he who spirituallie leaveth the Fundaments of Ecclesiasticall Trueth▪ Wee went out from them, in regard of place; but, they, from vsus, in regard o… Fayth. Wee hauehave left, with them, th… Fundamentes o… Walles: but, they hauehave left, with vsus, the Fundaments of Scriptures. Speciosum qu…dem nomen est pacis, & pulchra est opi… vnitatis: sed q… ambigat … s… Ecclesia atque Evangelior… v… tam p…cē esse qu… Christi est▪ Hilar▪ lib. contr. … ▪ & alios Arri…s▪ Hand ill… … Ecclesia pac… disc…, imò … conseq… fidei loade… qui a … perfidia sa segrega…, & … tagio crimi… discod…. Cypr. … de U…tat. Eccl…
THis is another Marke, truelie,
The Church must hauehave VNITIE:
As our Saviour hath fore-tolde,
One Shepheard, and one Sheep-folde:
One is my Spouse, one is my LoueLove;
One is my Darling, and my Doue.
This is His House, and, at some-tyme,
Hee doth resemble it to a Vine:
HIS Father is the Husband-man;
A Branch is everie Christian.
This is HIS Bodie mysticall,
The which HEE doth HIS Kingdome call,
Where-of Saynct Peter had the Keyes,
And his Successours hauehave all-wayes.
This is the Pillar, and the Ground,
Where-in all Trueth is to bee found.
So, lyke-wyse, Saynct Paul sayeth,
One Baptisme, and one Fayth,
And, one LORD IESU;
HaueHave no Dissention amongst you.
Shew mee anie Companie,
That in all Poyntes doe agree:
Except the Holie Church of Rome,
Then will I bee converted soone.
Eubulus.
That which, as I thinke, I hauehave evinced, of all your Man's former Marks, I affirme, of this also; That, it is, impertinentlie, yea, falselie, produced, for a proper Marke of the Church: in so farre, as it is a common condition of manie thinges, yea, all thinges that are, (hoc ipso quod sunt, anum sunt) even in that they are, they are, in that same, one; as all Schooles acknowledge. The Devils are vnited; for, Satan's Kingdome is not divided against it selfe: And, Briggands,…. 25. …. 14. banded to robbe, and sheede Blood, are one. So, as still, you see, that your Man's mayne Proposition, of his mayne Argument, is vayne, and sophisticall. Neyther will VNITIE, in all poynts, ever conclude more of the Church of CHRIST, than of the Antichristian bodie, except VNITIE, in all poynts, be modified: and, of an indefinite VNITIE, it be defined, an VNITIE, in all poynts, of Trueth. To which, only demonstratiue Marke, (as I hauehave shewed of all the former;) so, this of VNITIE, must bee reduced also, if there-on, you would builde anie sure Conclusion. For, of the Antichristian Companie, the holie Ghost, hath in playne Tearmes, fore-tolde, These hauehave one mynde, and shall giuegive their power, and authoritie, to the verse. ….Beast: and a little after, For GOD hath put in their Hearts, to fulfill his will; and to doe, with one consent, for to giuegive their Kingdomes to the Beast, vntill the wordes of GOD bee fulfilled. And, this is, indeede, that VNITIE, where-of your Men, so much glorie, even a Conspiracie in Errour, and no true VNITIE in Trueth; as their manifolde, and shamelesse Shiftings, (in a cleare evidence, of a selfe-accusing-guiltinesse) from subduing their doctrine, to just examination, by Scripture, the sole Rule of Veritie, make more than manifest. Now, Satan never yet envyed VNITIE, in Errour: or, ZEALE, in Superstition.
Philomathes.
Well: to let this goe with you, of VNITIE, which you hauehave, indeede, evinced, of the former: that it is no proper Marke: yet, as I sayde, and you also admitted of the others: so, you can not denye, of VNITIE, but that it is a true Attribute of the Church: and, that, therefore, our Man's Argument, for the Church of Rome, concludeth verie clearlie, thus:
The Church of CHRIST, must bee a Companie, keeping Vnitie, in all Poynts.
But, onlie, of all Companies, the Church of Rome, keepeth Vnitie, in all Poynts.
There-fore, the Church of Rome, is the onelie true Church of CHRIST.
Eubulus.
I will not quarrell the forme of your Syllogisme,II. for that your Assumption, hath the nature of a negatiue Position. I say, your Proposition is sophisticall; and, your Assumption, shameleslie, false: where-by, your Conclusion commeth to nought. As for the Proposition, though you shold modifie your indefinite, all Poynts, to definitlie, all Poynts, of Trueth: yet hath it in-folded a deepe Deceit. For, if it bee vnderstood, of All Poyntes of Trueth, so absolutelie, as, who keepe not Vnitie, in all, and everie poynt there-of, bee excluded from the Title of CHRIST HIS Church: then is your Proposition perniciouslie false. And, your Man would but, fraudule…tlie, put foorth a bloodie Table of Proscription, where-by, cruellie, to forfault manie good Christian, and Church, from the Communion of the Bodie, even by a deceitfull confounding, of what-so-ever poyntes of Trueth, and, what-so-ever degrees of Division, or Dissention: which must bee wyselie, and carefullie, distinguished. For, there bee manie poynts of Trueth, wherein diversitie of judgement, breaketh not the Vnitie of the Church: Yea, and manie Divisions, and Dissentions, which, yet, divyde not the dissenting Members, one from another: or, if one from another, yet, neyther of them from the Head, or common Bodie; from which those, onlie, may bee sayde, absolutelie, to fall, which holde not the Head, or, subvert, directlie, and with pertinacie, the Foundation. For, manie, in weaknesse, will holde Opinions, which, in-deede, doe even choppe agaynst the Foundation, by cleare, and necessarie Consequence; but not immediatelie, or directlie. So, as, if you should challenge the Holders, of that which their opinion doth import, they wil not only deny it, but evē abhorre the sequele of that which they mayntayne, but not with that mynde. And, it were great want of Charitie, to judge a-lyke of these, and of the others. Wee are all, heere, still, compassed with Infirmitie; knowing, but in part, and, prophecying, but in part. In which Case, the Apostle, charitablie, advyseth, That, Who are perfect, they bee so mynded: and, if anie bee other-wayes mynded, that the LORD 5.will reveale it vntounto them: but that, in the tyme, in that where-to wee are come, wee ought to proceede, by one Rule, mynding the same thinges. I confesse, & manie hundreths doe regrate it, with Teares, That the Infirmitie of Mens myndes, too farre in selfe-wiening, wedded to their owne Sense, and, not humblie receiving Information, or, charitablie comporting, with weake Brethren, (according to the Apostle's Rule) both hath bred, and still breedeth, too manie bitter, and vnnecessarie Distractions, and scandalous Schismes; about such thinges, as, if Humilitie, and LoueLove, had over-ruled Mens Affections, neyther were, nor are, of such Moment, where-fore the Vnitie of Men, holding still one, and the same Head, and, keeping one, and the same Foundation, should bee so lightlie broken, or, the Peace of GOD His House troubled: But, the weaknesse, and, not duelie-mortified Humours of Men, maketh not the Trueth of GOD to fayle. That Dissentions, and Divisions are, it declareth Men, to bee, yet, in that part, carnall: but, it doeth not separate them, from the common Bodie, so long as they holde one, and the same LORD, one Fayth, one Hope, one Baptisme, and are vnited in one, and the same Spirit: no more, than did this Defect, in the Church of Corinth; which, al-be-it, that, heere-fore, the Apostle did rebuke, as carnall,…h. 3. 1. in that; yet, hee still did intitle, with the Name of CHRIST His Church. And, though, by anie such Schisme, eyther a Person, or Companie, should bee divided, from particular, eyther Church or Churches; it will not, therefore, follow, (& I thinke, none dare avouch it) that, there-fore, they are separated from the Head, or common Bodie: so, to make them in a-lyke Case, with haereticall Subverters of the Foundation, and, Deserters of the Head. Wee see, by Experience, in naturall Bodies, That, by inflicted Woundes, such Gaps will bee made, as the sides of the Wound, eyther from other, will start a-sunder: and, so, one part of the Bodie, by a separating Wound, will be severed from another part: which, both, will yet remayne still vnited in the common Bodie, and, bee part-takers of one, and the same common Sense, Motion, and Lyfe, from one, and the same Head, and Heart. Thus (Philomathes) your Poet's Proposition, absolutelie affirmed, is false; even when hee hath modified his indefinite, All Poynts, to all Poynts, of Trueth.
Philomathes.
That no Vnitie argueth anie Companie, to bee CHRIST'S Church, but Vnitie in Trueth, I must needs confesse it: and, that everie diversitie of opinion, or everie degree of Distraction, doth not separate the dissenters, or distracted, mutuallie from other; or, at least, eyther of them from the common Bodie, and Head, I cannot denye, but that you hauehave evinced it clearlie. Yet, so manie, and so materiall, are the Divisions amongst your Churches, and your Quarrels are debated so bitterlie: and, againe, so great is the Harmonie, and Concord, of the Romish Church, as, I thinke, giveth just Reason, to suspect of you, that you are not, nor can not, bee vnited, as you spake, in one, and the same LORD, Fayth, Hope, Baptisme, and Spirit: and, that the Church of Rome, hath onlie, and evidentlie, this Honour.
Eubulus.
Now, (Philomathes) you put the Lyfe of yourIII. Syllogisme, in the Hands of your Assumption, to stand, or fall, there-with. And, denying vsus anie such Vnitie, as may argue a Church of CHRIST, you hauehave appropriated all to Rome, how justlie, we will, even now, examine: and, first, your Objection against vsus, is, manie wayes sophisticall. First, if such bee accounted ours, who are none of vsus, the imputation is vnjust. Wee acknowledge, and doe lament it, that there is too great Division, and varietie of Sects, calling themselues Christians, in the worlde: but, what doe most part of them, more, or so much concerne vsus, as they concerne your Church of Rome? out of whose dongue, as noysome Flees, they are bred: and by Satan's craft, comming to fly on, vponupon our Churches, (that by the mixture of their Poyson, they may bring the Trueth in disgrace) are onlie, by vsus diligentlie resisted, and their Errours clearlie convinced: while, in the meane tyme, your Romish Church, (whose brood they are) is carelesse of anie thing, but to suppresse the Trueth; and, calumniouslie, to lay over, on vsus, the Stinke of their owne Excrements. As for such, whom we will not disadvow, in common, (how-so-ever wee will not justifie the Ambition, Giddinesse, and bitternesse of some particular Men, who, as fyre-brands, disturbe, humurouslie, and vnnecessarilie, the Peace of the Church) I affirme, that no such materiall Poynts are in differ betwixt vsus, in common, wherefore, wee, both, may not, and ought not, embrace others, mutuallie, as Brethren. Which, that wee doe not, it is our weaknesse, and the malicious worke, of but a few evil-inspired Instruments; seeking more their owne Estimation, than GOD his Glorie, and good of His Church. And, that no such Separation is betwixt vsus, but that, how-so-ever, by a cruell Wound, of mercilesse Hands, wee are separated, one of vsus, from another; yet wee are still joyned in the common Head, and in the common Bodie, each of vsus to other. So, as your Man's odious enumeration of Protestants, Puritanes, Calvinists, Zwinglians, and, if you list, to adde to them, Lutheranes, also, is but a calumnious traducing, of such, as, most part, are not separated eyther from other: or at least, how-so-ever, by some weaknesse, they bee in that sort distracted, yet, are but one Bodie, joyned in one, and the same LORD, Fayth, Hope, Baptisme; and informed, all of them, by one and the same Spirit, al-be-it not all, in a-lyke measure. Amongst whom, there is no just breach of Communion: how-so-ever, that, by a Wound, of some cruell and dispitefull Men, those you doe call Lutherians, are, vnnecessarilie, separated from the rest: but, none of vsus, from the common Head, and Bodie, in which we are still vnited, and will be yet more & more nearlie: our Concord, in GOD, and His Trueth, growing, as your Vnitie, in Evill, shall be broken off: the will of GOD being fulfilled, in all the worke of Antichrist's deceit, justlie vponupon the Worlde, for contempt of His Trueth. And, thus (Philomathes) your Assumption, where-by you denye vsus anie such Vnitie, as, of necessitie, is requyred in the Church of CHRIST, for keeping, justlie, that Account, is false. And, no lesse false is it, al-so, in that, what you would robbe vsus of, you doe appropriate to Rome: which can not bee, truelie, praysed for anie Vnitie, except that which before I mentioned, out of the seaventeenth Chapter of the REVELATION, which is the onlie Vnitie proper vntounto her, and, accordinglie, there fore-tolde of her. For, other-wayes, shee hath fallen away, foulie, both from the Head, and the Foundation: and, can never bee sayde, to hauehave keeped Vnitie with the true Bodie; other-wayes, than the accressing Sore, or Apostume in the Bodie, but not of it, may bee sayde, to bee one with the Bodie. And, your Man bewrayeth, verie well, howe poorelie provyded hee is, of anie sure probation of his Vnitie: when, for all Argument, where-by to evince an Vnion, in one LORD, one Fayth, one Hope, one Baptisme, and one true, and sanctifying Spirit, hee is not ashamed, impudentlie, to take that, which is the verie mayne poynt in question. Whither, I pray you, did his Poëticke Furie transport him; when, without blushing, to sustayne his Assumption, on which all the lyfe of his Cause depended, hee brought this onlie, and goodlie, Argument?
That Church, onlie, keepeth Vnitie, in all poynts, which cleaveth to the Pope.
But, the Church of Rome, onelie, cleaveth to the Pope.
There-fore, the Church of Rome, onlie, keepeth Vnitie, in all poynts.
The Proposition of this his Demonstration, he prooveth, by this; That the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heavē, were given to Peter. But the Pope is Peter's Successour. Ergo, doe you requyre mee, (Philomathes) to make anie aunswere to these your Man his Raveries? Or, if hee had beene set, of verie purpose, to play the Praevaricator in the Cause, which hee pleadeth; could hee more ridiculouslie, I will not say, hauehave reasoned, but raved: Wee neyther deny, nor envy your Church, her Vnitie with the Pope; al-be-it, in christian Compassion, wee pittie it. But, wee deny, your Mischiefe to hauehave anie Vnion, eyther with the Head, Foundation, or Bodie, except as a Sore in it, but not of it. And, to cleare yet farder, the falsehood of your Man's mayne Assumption, of Vnitie, (That the Church of Rome, keepeth Vnitie in all poynts) and how vayne hee is, in vaunting there-of: if your Poet had as carefullie picked out the Partialities of his Romish Church, (even in this their damnable and cursed conspiracie) as hee hath, with a perverse mynde, and poysonable Eye, pryed in our Distractions: What great matter, of Insulting, hath hee, or anie of his profession, against our Churches, for any Division, betwixt vsus, and these whom they doe call LVTHERIANS? If he were as powerfull a Peace-maker, as he prooveth an impertinent Pratler, he might hauehave found, at Home, to worke vponupon, not only great Dissentions, but even as bitter, and materiall, Digladiations, as anie is amongst vsus. When al our Controversie, amongst our selues, about the manner of Presence, and participation of CHRIST, in the sacred Supper, is duelie weighed; what shall bee found, there-in, comparable to the manyfolde Debates, amongst your Schoolemen, about the manner of their prodigious TRANSSVBSTANTIATION? whence, as from an horrible Hydra, so manie monstruouslie diverse Heads hauehave sprung vp, in their Schooles, as never will bee reconciled, till Fyre, from Heaven, burne vp all that intoxicated Bodie. When your Poët shall put at one, the Scotists, and Thomists; the Franciscanes, and Domicians; the Schoole-men, and the Canonists; their other Clergie, and the Iesuists; when Blacke-well, and Bellarmine, shall accord, vponupon that mayne Poynt, of the Pope's Supremacie: (which, to belieue, and that both, In temporalibus, & spiritualibus is, de necessitate salutis: that is, Necessarie to Salvation, sayeth the one partie) then might hee, with the more credite, praesume, to taxe our Distractions: Loripedem rectus derideat, Aethiopem albus. Now, then, your Man's Proposition, of his mayne Syllogisme, of VNITIE, beeing sophisticall, and, his Assumption, clearlie false; he will hardlie, I trow, vponupon such Antecedents, conclude well, that the Church of Rome, is the onlie true Church of CHRIST.
Philadelphus.
You hauehave admitted the Church of Rome an VNITIE; but, such, as where-in they hauehave neyther anie matter of Glorying; and are, but even scarse, well vnited in that same sacrilegious Societie.
Who are vnited, onlie, but in Evill,
And, scarselie well are in that same compacted;
Lesse may they glorie, than their Guyde the Devill,
Whose Kingdome is not, in it selfe, distracted.
Killers, and Rogues, are, in a Course, contracted.
That Concord, onlie, comes to bee commended,
When vncorrupt Companions, vncoacted,
For Trueth, and truelie, are to-gether bended,
In Unitie, which is not thus defyned,
Fiends, Robbers, Killers, may bee close combyned.
Philomathes.
As Eubulus in doing his best, to take from our Poët, the prayse of a deepe Divine; so, I perceiue, (Philadelphus) that you mynde not to permit him the Monopolie of the MVSES. But, now, it resteth, to speake of the Note of HOLINESSE: and, I much muze, (Eubulus) if, as of all the former, so you will affirme of this al-so, That it is no proper Marke. For, I am sure, that to nothing vnderunder Heaven, doeth the propertie of HOLINESSE conveane, but to the Church of CHRIST onlie. And, agayne, (according to the Law you alleadged of Propers) that whatso-ever Men are holie, they must bee of the Church of CHRIST: for, Holinesse becommeth His House.
Philadelphus.
The Prophet ELISHA, beeing consulted by2. Kings. 3. 1… great Personages, and vponupon great Poynts, called for a Minstrell. And, mine Advyse were, (Eubulus) before you aunswere to this Marke of HOLINESSE, that, even for refreshing of our Spirites, a little, … heare their Man's Melodie, vponupon that poynt.
Eriphilus.
As your Myndes are mistuned, you may, perhaps, finde your selues, nor greatlie cheared there-with. For, how-so-ever, Eubulus, lyke a slipperie Eele, by subtilties of Distinctions, hath slidden thorow all our preceeding Marks; yet, as Philomathes, hath rightlie sayde, I hope, HOLYNESSE, is such a sure one, as you can not deny; except, you would once, and in this one Poynt, prooue true Men, even to professe your selues, a prophane Companie.
Eubulus.
What-so-ever a propertie wee shall finde HOLINESSE to bee, yet, (Eriphilus) I take bitter Passion, to bee no proper Poynt of it. And, therefore, what-so-ever your Man's Musicke, might worke in vsus; yet, shall it not, incontinentlie, come praesentlie in place, for mitigating, of your owne Cholericke Motions, by some greater Sympathie: which, perhaps, it shall finde in you, than it can waken, vp, in our (as you call them) mistuned Myndes. Therefore, Philomathes, bring out your Cure quicklie, for succouring of your Companion.
Philomathes.
In-deede, the consideration of HOLINESSE, would requyre, a calme Constitution. And these are our Man's Verses there-of.